Cyrus Poonawalla

Cyrus Soli Poonawalla is chairman of the Poonawalla Group, which includes the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker by number of doses. He was named for the Padma Bhushan in 2022 in the field of trade and industry, from Maharashtra ^[1]. He had received the Padma Shri in 2005 ^[2].

Affordable vaccines

Poonawalla was born on 11 May 1941 and graduated from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce in Pune in 1963 ^[2]. In 1966 he set up the Serum Institute of India with the aim of making affordable vaccines that were then not available in the country ^[2]. In 1988 the University of Pune awarded him a PhD for a thesis on improved technology for making anti-toxins and its social and economic impact ^[2].

A global supplier

At the time of the award the Serum Institute was producing more than 1.5 billion doses a year, used in more than 170 countries, against diseases including tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, tuberculosis, influenza, meningitis, polio, rotavirus, rabies and pneumonia ^[2]. Its launch of a Covid-19 vaccine was set to take output past two billion doses ^[2].

He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Oxford and the University of Massachusetts, and the first “Vaccine Hero” award of Gavi, the vaccine alliance ^[2]. He was the first Indian to receive the Pan American Health Organization’s award for excellence in inter-American public health, for his part in eliminating rubella in South America ^[2]. He is also a well-known figure in horse racing and breeding, and received a lifetime achievement award from the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities in 2009 ^[2].