March 17, 2021
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray in a video conference with the Prime Minister on Wednesday requested for more vaccination centres in the state so that the drive could gather more speed. Permission was also sought for the Centre for Mumbai based Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd to make the Covid vaccines. About 126 million vaccines could be made by the company, a press statement issued by the Chief Minister’s office said.
The Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd is a Maharashtra Government undertaking based in Mumbai. It has developed a number of bacterial and viral vaccines. It is an offshoot of Haffkine Institute, one of the oldest biomedical research institutes in the country, which was established in 1899. The Institute is named after the Ukrainian scientist, Waldemar Haffkine, who invented the plague vaccine.