According to the reports coming in from Pune, a massive fire has broken out at a plant of Serum Institute of India (SII) in the Manjri area.
Several fire tenders have reached the spot and are trying to douse the fire. There are no immediate reports of casualties.
Thick clouds of smoke could be seen billowing out of one of the buildings in the SII complex at Gopalpatti, though company officials remained tightlipped on the development.
At least 10 fire-tenders from Pune Fire Brigade rushed to the site and were battling the blaze, the cause of which is not clear.
The vaccine against coronavirus, Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, is being manufactured by the Serum Institute in India after it was approved to be used as one of the first COVID-19 vaccines in India for restricted emergency use.
The production of Covishield was not being carried out at the Manjri plant, said the sources.
Serum Institute is said to be the world’s largest vaccine manufacturing company and has been the manufacturing site for locally produced Oxford Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’.
Vaccine production won’t be hit and vaccine storage unit is safe, said the sources quoting officials.
When contacted, an SII official refused to comment whether the conflagration had affected the production of the Covid-19 vaccine at the plant.
The site where the fire broke out is an under-construction building at Serum Institute of India, Pune. The vaccine and vaccine manufacturing plant are safe.
(With IANS inputs)