Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan On Monday inaugurated India's first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine "Pneumosil", which has been developed by the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
As per an official release, recognizing SIIPL as the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines by number of doses and its contribution to India's economy, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that Serum Institute's vaccines are used in 170 countries and every third child in the world is immunized with the manufacturer's vaccine
He reminded the audience that SIIPL developed and got the license of the first indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) from the Government of India during COVID-19 pandemic lock-down in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', and also mentioned the extraordinary efforts of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in this endeavour to make India self-reliant in PCV.