Sharad Pawar visits coronavirus vaccine-maker Serum Institute of India
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar visited Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune on Saturday afternoon. SII has signed an agreement to manufacture a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by Jenner Institute of Oxford University in collaboration with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca. Pawar later tweeted about his visit to the company.
The high prevalence of COVID-19 infections in Mumbai and Pune will help test the efficacy of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, SII said last week.
By end of August, between 4,000 to 5,000 people in Pune and Mumbai will be injected with the vaccine as part of trials that are scheduled to last over two months, it said.
The Oxford University has reported satisfactory progress from the vaccines test results and is conducting bigger field tests in the UK. In India, it has chosen SII as the manufacturing partner, which has to conduct field trials before getting the final nod to ensure they are safe and effective for Indians.
