UN Covid-19 Summit Nixes Adar Poonawalla’s Recorded Message, Cites Tech Issues

The United Nations Covid-19 summit passed up a pre-recorded video message from Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, who was scheduled to speak in an afternoon session headlined ‘The Road to a COVID-19 Vaccine – a Global Public Good.’

“Unfortunately, the video couldn’t be provided in time in the required format,” General Assembly spokesman Brenden Varma told IANS. Varma did not provide details on the required format or whether the video arrived and when.

Poonawallah, however, seemed all set for the play-out. “It will be my honour and privilege tonight, to address over a hundred world leaders and nations at the UN special session on COVID19, highlighting India’s crucial role and contribution in fighting this unprecedented global pandemic,” he had tweeted.

Poonawalla’s remarks were to follow after a global state-of-play summary by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and a panel featuring BioNTech CEO Prof. Ugur…