64 Foreign heads of mission visit Bharat Biotech; witness India's vaccine capabilities

On Wednesday, 64 diplomats are visiting the premises of Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech which is to produce Covid vaccine Covaxin. During the visit, Bharat Biotech's Chairman and Managing Director Dr Krishna Ella delivered a presentation to explain the country's vaccine manufacturing capabilities. Dr Ella informed the Foreign Heads of Mission that nearly 33% of global vaccines are produced in Hyderabad's Genome Valley.

During the briefing, Bharat Biotech Chairman & Managing Director Dr Krishna Ella said, "Nearly 33% of global vaccines are produced in Genome Valley. PM Modi has announced that vaccines will be available for humanity, the industry will see his dream is realized. Hyderabad has the largest FDA approved vaccine facilities."

The Bharat Biotech inspection is scheduled to be followed by visits to similar facilities in other cities in due course of time. India is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer and it is likely that it will go a long way towards ensuring that vaccines are manufactured for and reach numerous other countries apart from India.

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Here are some pictures of the envoys inspecting the facilities at Bharat Biotech: 

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6 vaccine candidates in clinical trial stage in India

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday said that there are six COVID-19 vaccine candidates in different clinical trial stages being developed by various manufacturers in India. Besides this, three COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in the pre-clinical stage of which one of the Coronavirus vaccine candidates is in the pre-development stage being researched by Aurobindo Pharma, the official said.

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As of now, three coronavirus vaccine candidates are leading the race on a global level, namely Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D and Serum Institute of India's Covishield which is being made in partnership with Oxford University and  AstraZeneca. Bharat Biotech and ICMR's Covaxin has successfully completed phase one and two trials and phase three of human trials are currently underway. Serum Institute of India's Covishield is currently in phase three trials and interim data shows that it has about 90% efficacy for a particular dosing regimen. Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D had kicked off phase two clinical trials in August and have announced their plan to apply for phase three trials in December and launch the vaccine by March 2021, as per media reports. 

On December 2, the UK became the first country in the world to authorise the use of Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency purposes, thus, paving way for the delivery of the vaccines.

(With inputs from ANI)

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