AdAr PoonAwAllA is no strAnger to gAm-
bles. He owes his multibillion- dollar empire to a
series of big bets that paid off handsomely. Cyrus
Poonawalla, his father, made his own fortune on
horses—and then multiplied it by making another
bet in 1966: that he could make more money pro-
ducing vaccines than he could on horse breeding
and racing. He formed the Serum Institute of India
(SII), which grew slowly for three decades, sell-
ing antivenoms and lifesaving vaccines for India.
When Adar, then just 21, joined the company in
2001, he persuaded his father to dramatically ramp
up production—wagering that they could fill a gap
in global supply by making low-cost vaccines in
very large quantities. By 2017, SII was the world’s
largest vaccine manufacturer.
In early 2020, as COVID-19 was spreading
rapidly around the world, Adar Poonawalla gam-
bled yet again, this time on a vaccine for the novel
corona virus, developed by the University of Oxford
and AstraZeneca. In September 2020, his company,
based in the western Indian city of Pune, started
manufacturing millions of doses months before the
Oxford-AstraZeneca shot was authorized for use.
When it proved safe and effective later that year,
Poona walla felt vindicated. Reminiscing about his
decision to go big on the vaccine, he characterized
the Serum Institute as the only company capable
of such a big swing. “If we don’t do it, who will?”
he told TIME in March. “The other chaps don’t
have the capabilities that we do in terms of scale.”
The world soon came to rely on the 41-year-old
executive, better known before the pandemic for
his slick suits, glamorous horse- racing parties and
flashy cars than for his company’s work in produc-
ing vaccines. COVAX—a program mounted by the
World Health Organization (WHO) and GAVI,
the Vaccine Alliance, to ensure equitable vaccine
distribution—made the Serum Institute the back-
bone of its efforts based on its CEO’s guarantee that
it would produce 1.1 billion doses for export in 2021.
But the company failed to deliver after encoun-
tering problems that included a fire at its manufac-
turing facility, a ban on vaccine exports and global
supply- chain disruptions. Critics say Poona walla
could have taken some of these issues into account
earlier. “The hype clearly didn’t match the reality
on the ground,” says Neeta Sanghi, a consultant in
pharmaceutical supply chains. “They thought that
they could be the savior of the world.”
And even as Poonawalla tries to redeem his com-
pany by making good on his promises one year late,
he is encountering new problems that could dimin-
ish his attempts to put the Serum Institute at the
forefront of the global COVID-19 vaccine supply.SII’S Stumble In 2021 is one reason for the woe-
fully unequal global distribution of vaccines. But
it’s also the case that wealthy parts of the world,
like the U.S. and the E.U., have prioritized their
own populations—administering booster shots
widely while fewer than 3.5% of people in low-
income countries have received their first vaccine
dose. That’s a problem for the entire world; after
all, it’s likely that new variants of SARS-CoV-2—
the virus that causes COVID-19—will continue
to emerge in places where it’s able to spread un-
checked. The Omicron variant may have resulted
from the relatively low vaccination rate—26%—in
South Africa, where it was first detected.
In recent months, wealthy countries have
pledged to donate more doses to poorer nations.THE VACCINE
PRINCE BETS
ON A SECOND
CHANCE
By Abhishyant KidangoorPoonawalla
at the Serum
Institute of India’s
headquarters in
Pune in March 2021After stumbling in 2021, the CEO
of the world’s largest vaccine
maker says he’s ready to deliver
W O R L D