Hyderabad: Over 60 envoys to visit biotech companies developing COVID-19 vaccine

More than 60 foreign heads of missions will on Wednesday visit leading biotech companies in Hyderabad - Bharat Biotech and Biological E - which are developing vaccines against the novel coronavirus, sources said.

They said that this is the first such visit and it will be followed by visits to facilities in other cities.

It is in continuation of COVID-19 briefing by Ministry of External Affairs on November 6.

India is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer and has been contributing significantly to global efforts against COVID 19 pandemic.

Sources said there is a lot of interest in India's vaccine development efforts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India's vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis.

He visited the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune on November 28 to conduct an extensive review of the vaccine development and manufacturing process.

On November 30, he had virtual meetings with teams from Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd Pune, Biological E Ltd Hyderabad and Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd Hyderabad. The three teams are working on developing and manufacturing vaccine for COVID-19.

Bharat Biotech had on Monday applied for emergency use authorisation for its indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine 'Covaxin' to Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

It is the second Indian company to apply for emergency use authorisation after the Serum Institute of India applied for such use for the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

(ANI)

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