All Indian vaccines being developed for storage at 2-8 degree Celsius: DBT secretary

Covid-19: PM Modi interacts with 3 teams working on vaccine development

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with three teams working on developing and manufacturing of vaccines against Covid-19. The teams were from Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd, Biological E Ltd, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. PM Modi's interaction with the vaccine developers was held through video conferencing. He also appreciated the efforts being taken by the scientists of these companies. Earlier, PM modi had visited Pune's Serum Institute of India to review vaccine development. He had also visited Ahmedabad's Zydus Biotech Park and Hyderabad's Bharat Biotech facility.

PM Modi interacts with teams working on developing, manufacturing vaccine for COVID-19

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with 3 teams working on developing and manufacturing vaccine for COVID-19 on November 30. These teams were from Pune's Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd, Hyderabad's Biological E Ltd and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. The event was held through video conferencing. The PM appreciated efforts being taken by the scientists of these companies who are working tirelessly to come out with a vaccine solution to tackle COVID-19.

Vaccine manufacturing is lumpy, UK says

Britain's vaccine rollout is limited by a "lumpy" manufacturing process with production changes by Pfizer and a delay by AstraZeneca that could lead to brief supply disruption, Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Monday. Ciara Lee reports

Sao Paulo nurse first to get CoronaVac shot in Brazil

Monica Calazans, a 54-year-old nurse in Sao Paulo, became on Sunday the first person to be inoculated in Brazil, receiving the Chinese vaccine known as CoronaVac after Brazilian health regulator Anvisa approved emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd and Britain's AstraZeneca.

Easing of lockdown restrictions not before March, says Zahawi

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has suggested that a gradual easing oflockdown restrictions will not begin before early March. He told BBCBreakfast: “If we take the mid-February target, two weeks after that you getyour protection, pretty much, for the Pfizer/BioNTech, three weeks for theOxford/AstraZeneca, you are protected. “One of the things we don’t know yet,and the deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam is on record as saying‘look give me a couple of months and I’ll tell you’, is the impact of thevaccine on transmission rates ie on infecting people. “So there are a numberof caveats that stand in the way of us reopening the economy. “It will begradually, it will be probably through the tiered system but you’re looking atthat sort of period, two to three weeks after the middle of February, afterwe’ve protected the top four cohorts.”

Nepal: People cheers after approval of Covishield vaccine manufactured in India

After Nepal government approved emergency use of Covishield vaccine, people are hoping the pandemic will falter and human lives would be back on track. Nepal's Department of Drug Administration on Friday issued a release giving information on approving Covishield developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which will be manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) in India. Drug regulating authority has also specified Serum Institute of India for importers provided with low cost in purchasing and delivery of vaccine to public. Approving the vaccine for conditional purpose, the department has also asked manufacturers or importers to get approval for registration in order to bring the vaccines. Nepal imposed nationwide and partial lockdown for most of 2020 with rise in imported cases which later took the form of local transmission spreading mostly in urban areas and major cities. The nationwide lockdown which started in March 2020 hampered daily life of people as well as businesses. They now expect to thrive with the approval of vaccine. Though the detailed inoculation plan of Nepal Government is yet to be disclosed, a total of 3 companies applied for approval to take steps forward with Serum Institute for import of vaccines. India has already made conditional emergency approval for Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute. Being one of the largest producers of vaccines at low cost, India has promised to provide vaccine to its neighbours in near future.

Watch: Fire at SII Pune’s facility, smoke billows; fire tenders rushed

Fire broke out at Manjri facility of Pune’s Serum Institute of India on Thursday. Pune’s Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said that a call was received at 2.50pm. Reportedly, ten fire tenders were rushed to the spot along with at least two extra tankers. As per reports, fire was reported from the fifth floor of the recently constructed building. Smoke was seen coming out of the building. Serum Institute of India is manufacturing coronavirus vaccine Covishield. Watch the full video for more details.

Watch: India sends Covishield vaccines to Bhutan & Maldives

India on Wednesday sent coronavirus vaccines to Bhutan and Maldives. India is sending doses of the Covishield vaccine. Trucks with Covishield left from Pune’s Serum Institute of India for Bhutan. The move is in keeping with India’s “neighborhood first” policy. Consignments were airlifted and handed over to officials in Maldives and Bhutan. India will also be dispatching vaccines to Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Seychelles. This comes days after India launched the Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16. Watch the full video for more details.