Neither production nor storage of the coronavirus vaccine will be affected by the fire, according to company sources.

The Serum Institute is producing millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

India and neighboring countries are relying on doses produced at a large plant in Pune in western India.

According to reports, the fire broke out at a construction site where the company was building a new facility. TV channels showed large plumes of smoke in the area.

– Thick smoke is complicating firefighting efforts, a fire official told NDTV TV channel.

The EU is waiting

The EU’s pharmaceutical watchdog plans to make a decision on AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine next week.

The world’s largest vaccine producer, India, began distributing hundreds of thousands of doses to its poorer neighbors on Wednesday.

A quarter of a million doses of the AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine are being shipped to Bhutan and the Maldives on Wednesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.

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In the coming weeks, India will also send vaccine doses to Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles.

The richest people hijack vaccines

However, India will ensure to procure enough doses to immunize its own population, said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava.

The world’s rich countries have secured 9 billion of the 12 billion vaccine doses to be produced this year.