PM Modi to interact with more teams of Covid-19 vaccine developers

After his visit to three vaccine development centres, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on Monday scheduled to speak to three other teams involved in developing a Covid-19 vaccine.

The PMO, in a tweet, said: "Tomorrow, on 30th November 2020, PM Narendra Modi will interact, via video conferencing, with three teams that are involved in developing a COVID-19 vaccine. The teams he will interact with are from Gennova Biopharma, Biological E and Dr Reddy`s."

The first two are proceeding with developing their own vaccines, while Dr Reddy`s has tied up with Russia to conduct trials of its Sputnik vaccine.

The Prime Minister had visited three cities on Saturday to conduct an extensive review of the vaccine development and manufacturing process, going to the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, the Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and the Serum Institute of India in Pune.

Expressing pride in the fact that India`s indigenous vaccine development has progressed at such a rapid pace so far, he had stressed that India considers vaccines as not only vital to good health but also as a global good, and it is India`s duty to assist other countries, including the nations in the neighbourhood, in the collective fight against the virus.

Modi asked the scientists to express their free and frank opinion on how the country could further improve its regulatory process. The scientists also presented an overview of how they are also developing various new and repurposed drugs to better fight Covid-19.

After visiting Pune, the Prime Minister had tweeted, "Had a good interaction with the team at Serum Institute of India. They shared details about their progress so far on how they plan to further ramp up vaccine manufacturing. Also took a look at their manufacturing facility."

The Covidshield vaccine is being developed jointly by the Oxford University, AstraZeneca and the SII, which is the world`s largest vaccine manufacturer.

Currently, the SII is producing around 50-60 million doses which would be scaled up to to 100 million by January 2021, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla told the media.