PM Modi reviews COVID-19 vaccine development work, first stopover at Zydus Cadila’s facility

Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his three-city visit to review the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine development work, with the first stopover at Zydus Cadila’s manufacturing facility near Ahmedabad. He will also see the works at Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune.

An official confirmed that PM Modi held discussions with the promoters and executives of the pharma company. They briefed him about the vaccine development work and production procedure. The prime minister also interacted with scientists and vaccine developers.

Zydus Cadila, in a regulatory filing, stated that PM Modi’s presence will motivate the company to scale greater heights in the quest to bridge unmet healthcare needs. The Zydus family comprising 25,000 Zydans stands committed to the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission and offering the nation safe and efficacious vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to fight COVID-19, it said.

Storage and Transportation

As vaccine works continue, PM Modi has taken up the offer for setting up of a specialized refrigerated vaccine transportation plant in Gujarat to ensure last mile drug delivery to villages across India. As such, Luxembourg firm B Medical Systems is sending a high-level team to Gujarat next week to set up a vaccine cold chain, including solar vaccine refrigerators, freezers and transport boxes.

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Official sources, as per HT, said the setting up of a full-fledged plant will require nearly two years, whereby the company has decided to start by getting only the refrigeration boxes from Luxembourg and source the best content from the domestic market under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat programme. The refrigerated boxes will be able to deliver vaccine between four degrees Celsius to 20 below zero even the company has technology to transport vaccine 80 below zero degrees Celsius. The B Medical Systems company will set up a full-fledged plant in Gujarat in phase II for Indian requirement as well as for exporting to other countries.