64 foreign envoys visit Bharat Biotech facility developing COVID-19 vaccine

Hyderabad: Envoys of more than 60 countries on Wednesday visited a facility of Bharat Biotech which is developing Covaxin - India`s first indigenous vaccine for coronavirus.

After landing in Hyderabad by a special Air India flight, the ambassadors and high commissioners reached the Genome Valley on the city outskirts to visit Bharat Biotech and Biological E.

The diplomats are on a day-long visit to Hyderabad to see the facilities at the two companies for developing coronavirus vaccines.

Bharat Biotech Chairman Kishna Ella gave a power-point presentation about his company and the milestones it had achieved in vaccines production. Later, the delegates were taken around the vaccine production facility.

The visit by the heads of foreign missions arranged by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is part of India`s efforts to develop partnerships for the manufacture and delivery of vaccines. Last month, the diplomats were briefed on the vaccine trials underway in the country and efforts to manufacture and deliver the doses.

At both Bharat Biotech and Biological E, the foreign envoys would be told about the progress made so far in the development of the vaccines and the rollout plans by both the companies after their vaccines get the approval from regulators.

The Telangana government had made elaborate arrangements for the visit by the diplomats following all COVID protocols. The state authorities arranged five well- equipped buses and a special medical team.

A presentation will also be made to showcase the state`s potential in the production and supply of vaccines, the development of Genome Valley and proposed Pharma City.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Bharat Biotech`s facility here on November 28 as part of his three-city tour to take stock of the COVID-19 vaccine development work in the country.

Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research is working on Covaxin, India`s first indigenous vaccine for coronavirus. The company is currently conducting phase III clinical trials of the vaccine at various centres across the country.

Biological E last month initiated a clinical trial of its COVID-19 subunit vaccine candidate in India following approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI).

BE is making the vaccine in collaboration with Dynavax Technologies Corporation (Dynavax), a US-based vaccine focused biopharmaceutical company, and Baylor College of Medicine, a health sciences university in Houston.