PM Modi conducts 3-city vaccine tour

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited India’s top vaccine centres on Saturday to personally review the development of the coronavirus vaccine and the manufacturing process. The visit was meant to help him get a “first-hand perspective of the preparations, challenges and roadmap in India’s endeavour to vaccinate its citizens”.

PM Modi began his three-city vaccine tour with a visit to pharma major Zydus Cadila‘s plant near Ahmedabad. Wearing a PPE kit, PM Modi reviewed the vaccine development process at the Zydus Cadila research centre.

The drug maker has announced that the first phase of clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, has been completed and it commenced the second phase of clinical trials in August.

From Ahmedabad, PM Modi flew to Hyderabad and visited Bharat BioTech, which is working on Covaxin, pitched as India’s first indigenous vaccine candidate.

After his hour-long visit to the facility, the PM went to Pune where the Serum Institute of India (SII), which has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University for a COVID-19 vaccine, is based. PM Modi is expected to review the status of the vaccine, including its launch, production and distribution mechanisms during the visit.

As India enters a decisive phase of the fight against COVID-19, PM Narendra Modi’s visit to these facilities and discussions with the scientists will help him get a first-hand perspective of the preparations, challenges and roadmap in India’s endeavour to vaccinate its citizens. – Prime Minister’s Office

On 24 November the PM spoke to chief ministers of various states over the worsening pandemic situation in their states. He advised them to establish cold storage facilities for COVID-19 vaccine beforehand and suggested them to prepare and send a plan for its distribution to the Central government.

On Saturday, India reported 41,322 fresh COVID-19 cases, 4% lower than on Friday, taking its overall number to 93.51 lakh cases and 1,36,200 deaths. The states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala were the most affected ones, with deaths ranging from 23 to 85 in the past 24 hours.