COVID-19 vaccine: PM Modi to visit Pune-based Serum Institute of India on Saturday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the Serum Institute of India in Pune on Saturday to understand the process of COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution. The Serum Institute of India has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University for the COVID-19 vaccine.

"We have received a confirmation about PM Modi's visit to the Serum Institute of India on Saturday, but his minute-to-minute programme is yet to be received," Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao said.

Earlier, Rao had said that though there was a possibility that the Prime Minister would visit Pune, there was no official confirmation.

He also said that the visit of the ambassadors and envoys from 100 countries was to take place on November 27, but it has now been rescheduled to December 4.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the government is keeping a close eye on COVID-19 vaccine development and clarified that the dosage and price of the vaccine were uncertain as of now.

PM Modi during his virtual meet with Chief Minister earlier this week said, "work on vaccine research is almost at the last stage both in the country as well as in the world" and the "Indian government is keeping a close eye on each and every development and we are in touch with everybody", pointing out, "it is not yet decided whether there will be one, two or three doses of vaccine or what will be its price."

India is expected to be a major centre of global COVID vaccine manufacturing and supply. Amid the COVID pandemic, India has emerged as the Pharma capital of the world supplying medicines such as HCQ, Paracetamol to more than 150 countries.