PM Modi to visit Ahmedabad, Hyderabad & Pune today; will review COVID vaccine status

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit three cities on Saturday to review the status of COVID-19 vaccine. He will visit Bharat Biotech’s facilities in Hyderabad, Zydus Cadila in Ahmedabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune. While Bharat Biotech is developing  'Covaxin', Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D is under development and Serum Institute of India has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and the Oxford University for manufacturing of the latter's COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, officials at the Serum Institute said that they had not received his minute-to-minute schedule. 

"We have received a confirmation about PM Modi's visit to the Serum Institute of India on Saturday, but his minute-to-minute program is yet to be received," Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao told PTI. 

The Central Drug Standard Control Organisation has granted permission for the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccine for the pre-clinical test, examination and analysis to seven firms, two of which are the Serum Institute of India (SII) and the Gennova Biopharmaceuticals. On the other hand, Bharat Biotech on November 16 said it has started phase III trials for 'Covaxin', that is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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Incidentally, PM Modi's visit comes just days after AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi issued a challenge to BJP to bring Prime Minister Modi for campaigning in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal polls. Home Minister Amit Shah will campaign in Hyderabad on November 29, UP CM Yogi Adityanath will campaign on November 28 and BJP chief JP Nadda on Friday.  PM Modi's visit will mostly focus on reviewing the status of the vaccine candidate against the Coronavirus and to know about its launch, production and distribution mechanisms.

READ | PM Modi to visit Serum institute in Pune on November 28 to review status of Covid vaccine

PM Modi on vaccine

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said any vaccine against coronavirus that is administered to citizens will meet all necessary scientific criteria and stressed that governments at all levels will have to work together to ensure that the vaccination drive is smooth, systematic and sustained. Interacting with the chief ministers and other representatives of states and Union Territories, Modi said the vaccine research has reached almost the final stages and the government was closely monitoring the development process, while maintaining contacts with all stakeholders. The modalities of COVID-19 vaccine delivery, distribution and administration were discussed during the meeting.

"It is not yet decided whether there will be one, two or three doses of vaccine. Their prices are also not decided. We don't have answers to such questions right now as there are different people in the world making it. The corporate world is involved, there is competition among them, countries have their diplomatic interests, have to wait for WHO also," PM Modi said.

The prime minister reassured that the government is keeping a close watch on the development of vaccines and is in contact with Indian developers and manufacturers, along with global regulators, governments of other countries, multilateral institutions and international companies. He underlined that just like the focus in the fight against COVID-19 has been on saving each and every life, the priority will be to ensure that the vaccine reaches everyone.

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