Adar Poonawalla is seen cutting a cake in the photo
Serum Institute of India's executive director Natasha Poonawalla had finally a day to celebrate after months of hard work on her husband Adar's birthday. Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute celebrated his 40th birthday today with his family, glimpses of which were shared by his wife Natasha on Instagram.
The "relentless hard work", Ms Poonawalla refers to in her post, is the manufacturing of the coronavirus vaccine Covishield at the Serum Institute for many months.
The couple's children and other relatives were present at the get-together. Mr Poonawalla is seen cutting a cake in the photo.
"Happy birthday to this powerhouse, and my rock Adar Poonawalla, taking a moment to celebrate, after what's been a tough few months of sleepless nights and relentless hard work. Here's to many more milestones, and hopefully a little more sleep," Ms Poonawalla's birthday wish for her husband read.
Actor Sonam Kapoor also wished Mr Poonawalla on his birthday by calling him "the guy who is about to save the world," in an Instagram post.
The Covishield vaccine rolled out on Tuesday from SII's Pune facility. 56.5 lakh doses of Covishield, India's first coronavirus vaccine, has been sent to various cities including Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati and Patna.
Adar Poonawalla had tweeted it was an "emotional moment" for the whole team at SII after the first shipment rolled out.
The government plans to purchase a total of 5.60 crore doses of Covishield vaccine by April 2021, at Rs 200 per dose. While 1.10 crore doses of the vaccine were purchased on Monday, there is a "commitment" to purchase another 4.50 crore doses by April 2021.
India begins the first phase of a mass vaccination - claimed as the largest in the world - on Saturday, with around 30 crore people, including three crore frontline workers, to be inoculated.
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