PM Modi reviews status of India’s Covid-19 vaccine development efforts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the task force on coronavirus vaccine development. PM Modi also took a detailed review of the current status of India’s steady efforts in vaccine development, drug discovery, diagnosis and testing.

According to a statement released by the prime minister’s office, Indian vaccine companies have come across as innovators in early stage vaccine development research.The PMO has also noted contributions of Indian academia and start-ups pioneering the domain. Over 30 Indian vaccines are in different stages of vaccine development,with few going on to trial stages. PM felt that such coordination and speed should be embedded into a standard operating procedure

It was also observed that with linkage of laboratories all over the country, capacity for both — RT-PCR approach and for the antibody detection — have been enormously scaled up.

“The problem of importing reagents for testing has been addressed by consortia of Indian start-ups and industry, meeting current requirements. The current thrust also holds promise for the development of a robust long-term industry in this area,” the statement read.