By Raju Vernekar
Pune, Nov 27:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Serum Institute of India’s Hadapsar Complex in Pune to take stock of Covid-19 vaccine production and proposed distribution plan, on Saturday.
Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao confirmed that the PM will be visiting SII on November 28 to asses the production of Covid vaccine. The administration has already held multiple meetings to prepare for PM Modi’s visit to SII which has begun the production of Covishield vaccine.
Rao said, the PM will be at Serum Institute for an hour. “He will arrive at Lohegaon Airport at 12.30 PM on Saturday. After that, he will travel by helicopter to the Serum Institute. The PM will also be travelling to Hyderabad the same day.
The SII, the world’s largest vaccine maker, has signed an agreement to manufacture the vaccine developed by the Jenner Institute of Oxford University in collaboration with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca. Both, the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, on Monday said that their COVID-19 vaccine was up to 90 per cent effective in late-stage clinical trials, raising hopes for the arrival of shots in India by the end of the year.
The PM’s visit precedes the arrival of ambassadors and high commissioners of various countries at Serum Institute of India in Pune on December 4 to oversee the production of the Covid-19 vaccine and the company’s distribution plan, once it gets a nod from the regulators for use.
According to the itinerary released by the Ministry of External Affairs, the “familiarization” visit of foreign ambassadors and high commissioners based in Delhi will be for one day and in two groups. The ambassadors will visit SII in the morning and spend around three hours visiting facilities at the company’s Hadapsar campus. By afternoon, they will arrive at Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Limited, which is also into production of another a covid vaccine, at its Hinjewadi campus in Pune before heading back to Delhi.
It may be recalled that the Serum Institute and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for biomedical research, on November 11, had announced completion of enrolment of phase III clinical trials for “Covishield” in India.
ICMR and SII has also collaborated for clinical development ”Covovax” developed by Novavax, USA and up scaled by Serum Institute. The partnership is a stellar example of private-public institutes collaborating to mitigate the dire consequences of the pandemic outbreak. ICMR funded the clinical trial site fees, while Serum Institute, funded other expenses for “Covishield”. SII and ICMR conducted Phase II and III clinical trial of Covishield” at 15 different centres, across the country.
The vaccine made in UK is currently being tested in large efficacy trials in UK, Brazil, South Africa and USA. The promising result of the trials so far give confidence that “Covishield” could be a realistic solution to the deadly pandemic.
