Kriti Agrawal
A Mumbai-based lawyer has petitioned the Bombay High Court for Z+ protection cover for Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII), which manufactures the Covishield vaccine.
Advocate Datta Mane’s petition also requested the filing of a FIR against those who allegedly threatened Poonawalla regarding the supply of the vaccine.
According to Mane’s petition, if vaccine makers feel unsafe, it can affect vaccine development. Petition stated that, “If Adar Poonawalla leaves India for fear of his life, India will be a ship in a storm without its captain.”
According to the petition, Poonawalla’s existence and the properties of SII, the world’s largest vaccine producing institute that produces Covid-19 vaccine namely Covishield, should be secured.
Mane has relied on media reports claiming that Poonawalla fled to the UK due to fear and relentless pressure from influential people, including chief ministers and business tycoons, for vaccine supplies.
Mane said that he was taken aback and confused when Poonawalla said in an interview that he was being targeted by powerful people.
Mane released statistics on how many people have been vaccinated so far and how many more are scheduled to be vaccinated. He said that vaccinating a population of more than 1.3 billion people is difficult. He added that India has provided 15,40,00,000 doses to its population to date, which is just around 2% of the total population.
It was submitted that, “Failure to control the pandemic in India could have disastrous consequences, with thousands of deaths and widespread cases that could easily overwhelm the health-care system.”
It was also mentioned that Poonawalla had been given ‘Y’ category security cover by the Home Ministry; however, the security provided appeared to be insufficient, as Poonawalla left the country shortly after such security was granted.
Mane claimed to have filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Police in Pune and the Director-General of Police in Maharashtra.
He further stated that the Maharashtra government had asked Poonawalla to file a complaint so that action could be taken against those who were putting pressure on him.