Serum Institute of India

The Serum Institute of India (SII) is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, producing more than 1.5 billion doses annually from its facilities in Pune, Maharashtra. Founded in 1966 by Cyrus Poonawalla, SII manufactures vaccines for more than 165 countries and supplies the majority of vaccines used in UNICEF, WHO, and GAVI procurement programmes for lower-income countries. Its manufacturing scale gives it unmatched cost efficiency: many of its vaccines cost a fraction of comparable doses from European or North American producers. SII's global profile rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it produced the AstraZeneca-Oxford ChAdOx1 vaccine (branded as Covishield) at enormous scale, delivering the majority of doses distributed through COVAX to lower-income countries.

On 1 June 2026 CEPI awarded the Serum Institute $8.6 million to manufacture an Oxford ChAdOx1-based Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine candidate as part of a three-platform emergency portfolio. The ChAdOx1 vector platform is the same technology SII used at mass scale for Covishield during COVID-19; applying it to Bundibugyo means SII can leverage existing process knowledge, cell lines, and regulatory precedent rather than building a new manufacturing pathway from scratch. The equity dimension is deliberate: SII's Pune facilities and existing GAVI supply relationships mean that if the candidate reaches authorisation, doses can be manufactured and distributed to DRC and Uganda at a cost and volume that Western manufacturers could not match. No clinical trials had begun as of the grant announcement; the funding covers process development and early manufacturing work needed to advance the candidate to a Phase 1 readiness stage.