On Thursday, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Indian government, Prof K. Vijay Raghavan said that in India about 30 groups are trying to develop vaccines against COVID-19 and about 20 of them are keeping a good pace. The Development of vaccines generally takes 10- 15 years but India is trying to develop it in 1 year but for that, a parallel process is required. No change has been witnessed in the fundamental properties of the virus until now, he added.
India is developing three types of COVID-19 vaccines – fully indigenous, collaboration with foreign players where we are leading, and collaborations where others are leading the development. Over 100 vaccines are under development across the world now. The WHO has listed Serum Institute of India, Zydus Cadila, Indian Immunologicals Limited and Bharat Biotech from India among the firms involved in developing a vaccine.
Dr VK Paul, Chairman of Empowered Group I and Member (Health) of NITI Aayog said “The fight against coronavirus will be won through vaccine and drugs. Our country’s science and technology institutions and pharma industry are very strong. India’s pharma industry is known as the pharmacy of the world and vaccines made in India are being used and are known all over the world.”
While India awaits vaccine for coronavirus, Raghavan suggested focusing on hygiene, decontamination of surfaces, physical distancing, tracking, and testing. As the nation’s two-month-old lockdown is set to end this Sunday, the country observed a sharp spike in the number of coronavirus cases. On May 28, with 6,566 more coronavirus cases and 194 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 count reached 1, 58,333.
