Covid vaccine review: PM Modi visits Bharat Biotech, Zydus Biotech Park; next stop is Serum Institute

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited the manufacturing facility of Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) in Telangana to review the development of its ‘Covaxin’ Covid-19 vaccine candidate.

The Prime Minister landed at the Hakimpet air force station and travelled by road to the facility located in Genome Valley of Shamirpet on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

PM Modi interacted with scientists and company officials at Biotech, which is collaborating with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for an indigenous Covid-19 vaccine using the virus strain isolated by ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV) based in Pune.

Covaxin is currently undergoing phase 3 trials.

PM Narendra Modi was briefed about indigenous COVID-19 vaccine of Bharat Biotech at its facility in Hyderabad, Telangana today. “Congratulated scientists for their progress in the trials so far. Their team is closely working with ICMR to facilitate speedy progress,” he tweets. pic.twitter.com/2z3dCuP6Pt

— ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2020

Ahmedabad was the first stop in Prime Minister’s three city tour today, to personally review the vaccine development and manufacturing process in the country.

He visited pharma major Zydus Cadila’s research centre the Zydus Biotech Park in Changodar industrial area, over 20 km from Ahmedabad and took stock of the development of its vaccine candidate ‘ZyCoV-D’.

While praising the efforts of the team of Zydus Cadila, Prime Minister Modi said the government of India is actively working with them to support them.

“Visited the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad to know more about the indigenous DNA based vaccine being developed by Zydus Cadila. I compliment the team behind this effort for their work. Government of India is actively working with them to support them in this journey,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

#WATCH Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, reviews the development of #COVID19 vaccine candidate ZyCOV-D pic.twitter.com/vEhtNMf1YE

— ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2020

PM Modi is scheduled to head to the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune. SII has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University for the vaccine candidate ‘Covidshield’.

The SII is the largest producer of vaccines in the world by volume.

“As India enters a decisive phase of the fight against COVID-19, PM Narendra Modi’s visit to these facilities and discussions with the scientists will help him get a first-hand perspective of the preparations, challenges and roadmap in India’s endeavour to vaccinate its citizens,” the Prime Minister’s Office had said on Friday.