According to respective company sources, Biological E is holding 200 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax while Bharat Biotech is sitting on a stockpile of 50 million doses of Covaxin.
He congratulated the company's management on its science and innovation platform.
The teams were from Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd Pune, Biological E Ltd Hyderabad and Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd Hyderabad.
For the first time in two years, schools in the national capital will reopen completely in offline mode from April 1 with the hybrid mode of operation coming to an end.
The phase-three human clinical trial of indigenously developed anti-coronavirus vaccine candidate Covaxin began at the AIIMS in New Delhi on Thursday, with Dr M V Padma Srivastava, the chief of Neurosciences Centre at the premier institute, and three other volunteers receiving the first dose.
'Pfizer India has submitted an application on December 4 to the DCGI seeking emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in India'
The modalities of COVID-19 vaccine delivery, distribution and administration were discussed during the meeting.
The novel mRNA vaccine candidate, HGCO19, is supported with seed grant under the Ind-CEPI mission of the Department of Biotechnology. The mRNA vaccines do not use the conventional model to produce immune response. Instead, they carry molecular instructions to make the protein in the body through a synthetic RNA of the virus.
Five vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of development in India, out of which four are in Phase II/III and one is in Phase-I/II trials.
The ministry further stated that it was advisable to receive a complete schedule of the anti-coronavirus vaccine irrespective of past history of infection with COVID-19 as this will help in developing a strong immune response against the disease.
Over the last four days, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech have applied to the Drugs Controller General of India seeking emergency use authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccines.
Responding to another question, Choubey said that the phase-I of clinical trials have revealed excellent safety of the two candidate vaccines indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and Cadila Healthcare Ltd, and now their immunogenicity testing is in progress. Their phase II clinical trials are ongoing.
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