PM Modi to review COVID-19 vaccine work in these three cities today; check details

To review COVID-19 vaccine development work, PM Narendra Modi will visit three cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Telangana.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit three cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Telangana on Saturday to review coronavirus vaccine development work at facilities there. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) made the announcement on Friday that he will visit Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

The PMO tweeted, "Tomorrow, PM Narendra Modi will embark on a 3 city visit to personally review the vaccine development & manufacturing process. He will visit the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad & Serum Institute of India in Pune."

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

PM Modi will visit pharma major Zydus Cadila's plant to get information about its vaccine development. The prime minister will reach the plant, located in the Changodar industrial area, over 20 km from Ahmedabad, around 9.30 am, an official told news agency PTI. Zydus Cadila had announced that the phase-I clinical trial of its vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D was over and it has commenced phase-II clinical trials from August.

PM Modi will then proceed to Pune, where he will visit the Serum Institute of India, which has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and the Oxford University for the vaccine, a senior official told PTI. The prime minister will reach Pune around 12.30 pm, he said.

PM Modi's visit is aimed at reviewing the status of the vaccine candidate for coronavirus infection and to know about its launch, production and distribution mechanism, he said. The prime minister will then fly to Hyderabad where he is scheduled to visit vaccine maker Bharat Biotech's facility, an official said.

PM Modi will land at Hakimpet Air Force station and go to Bharat Biotech's facility at Genome Valley around 50 km from Hyderabad. Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is undergoing phase-3 trials. The PM will fly back to Delhi in the evening after his hour-long visit to the facility, the official said.