PM Modi will hold discussions with the scientists to know more about the challenges they are facing

With vaccine development in India gathering pace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the facilities of three pharma giants in three different cities of India tomorrow.

PM Modi will visit the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in an official statement.

He will personally review the vaccine development & manufacturing process, the statement said further.

Taking to Twitter, the PMO wrote, “Tomorrow, PM @narendramodi 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.”



PM Modi will also hold discussions with the scientists to know more about the challenges they are facing.

The PMO wrote, “As India enters a decisive phase of the fight against COVID-19, PM @narendramodi’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.”



Earlier, a confirmation about PM Modi’s visit to Pune came from the Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao. Several media reports quoted the Pune Divisional Commissioner saying that PM Modi will be visiting the Serum Institute of India tomorrow.

Several other officers said that PM Modi will arrive in Pune at around 1 PM and will leave at 2:30 PM as per the tentative schedule.

His visit to the Ahmedabad-based facility of Zydus Cadila was confirmed by Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel.

“PM Narendra Modi will be on a brief visit to Gujarat on Saturday, during which he will visit Zydus Cadila's facility to get first-hand information about the progress made by the company so far in terms of development of vaccine against coronavirus,” he said.

Zydus Cadila is developing Zycov-D vaccine for the COVID-19. The vaccine has completed phase-2 trails and is gearing up for the phase-3 trials.

Similarly, Bharat Biotech & ICMR are jointly developing Covaxin and have already commenced its phase-3 trials.

The Serum Institute of India is developing Covishield or the Oxford Vaccine with British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. The vaccine is in its phase-3 clinical trials at present with some media reports claiming it to be 60-70 per cent effective.

In India, it is being tested on 1,600 people and the company says that it might conduct several more tests before its roll-out in India.