Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that under the able guidance and leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has developed four indigenous vaccines within two years.
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in Ministry of Science & Technology has through “Mission COVID Suraksha”, delivered four vaccines, augmented the manufacturing of Covaxin, and created necessary infrastructure for smooth development of future vaccines, so that our country is pandemic ready, he said.
The four vaccines are- ZyCoV-D- World’s 1st and India’s indigenously developed DNA Vaccine, CORBEVAXTM-India’s first protein subunit vaccine, GEMCOVAC™-19 – World’s 1st and India’s indigenously developed mRNA vaccine and iNCOVACC-World’s 1st and India’s indigenously developed intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine.
Speaking after a high-level meeting with Secretary DBT Rajesh Gokhale and other senior officials of the Department, following the formal launch of Intranasal Covid Vaccine,Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that financial support for vaccine development, as well as, expert scientific and technical oversight and monitoring for various COVID-19 vaccine development activities, were provided under this Mission.
Dr Singh underlined that in the wake of the pandemic crisis, vaccine development for COVID-19 was accorded the highest priority by the Modi Government and accordingly, “Mission COVID Suraksha” was announced by Government of India, at a total cost of Rs. 900 Crore, under Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package. The aim was to enable development of safe, efficacious, affordable, and indigenous COVID-19 vaccines in an accelerated manner, the Minister said.
He emphasised that “Mission COVID Suraksha” also supported augmentation of manufacturing facilities for enhancement of COVAXIN® production at Bharat Biotech’s Malur facility and Indian Immunologicals Limited, Hyderabad.
Singh informed that “Mission COVID Suraksha” required a strong public-private partnership (PPP) model to deliver the vaccine on an urgent basis. He said, DBT had the required strength and infrastructure to develop such a model and work with the scientific community, as well as, vaccine manufacturers to deliver vaccines in a short span of time, which was needed by our country and also the global community.
The Minister added that DBT with its more than three decades long experience in vaccine research and development already had basic scientific strength through its Autonomous Institutes and also an industry-academia interface agency.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the COVID-19 pandemic brought intense challenges to the global scientific community, both in terms of managing the infection and preventing it. The Government of India, has been praised globally by the international community for its leadership at the highest levels and its vision to manage the pandemic.
Secretary, DBT, Gokhale informed that the clinical trial sites supported under Mission COVID Suraksha have facilitated clinical trials for ZyCoV-D, Covovax, GEMCOVAC™-19, CORBEVAXTM, Covaxin Booster, rBCG (Serum Institute) and J&J’s COVID vaccine. An electronic volunteer database of nearly 1.5 lakh subjects has also been prepared.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
