How pandemic fatigue led India to squander a chance to beat Covid while it was down
Delayed action on shoring up vaccines, and India’s return to pre-pandemic normal with a vengeance have been seen as signs of fatigue as well as a level of complacence.
Abantika Ghosh 18 April, 2021 10:04 am IST Text Size:
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New Delhi: On 13 April, 101 days after the first two Covid-19 vaccines were approved in India, the central government took a decision to waive the requirement of bridging trials in the country for vaccines approved in Europe, Japan, the US etc. What prompted its rigidity in December last year, when it refused to grant the same waiver to the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, is a mystery. Pfizer eventually withdrew its application and now wants its entry to be subject to certain conditions.
BDR Pharma gets FDA nod to distribute Remdesivir to Maharashtra
BDR Pharmaceutical International had produced Remdesivir vials for export purpose but with FDAâs order it has been permitted to distribute strictly for Maharashtra Government supply or trade in the state only
Mumbai: In a bid to address the shortage of Remdesivir vials, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in its order has allowed the BDR Pharmaceutical International to distribute Remdesivir injections under emergency and very high demanding situation for the state government supply and trade in Maharashtra only. The state FDAâs order dated April 16 came after its counterpart in Gujarat had released similar order on April 12 amid rising demand for the Remdesivir.
wellcomecollection/ Free to use with attribution Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
This is a story of an institution that has stood the test of time. Now, this institute is going to support India to fight COVID-19. Founded in 1899, The Haffkine Institute is named after a Russian scientist, Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine who discovered the plague vaccine.
Before understanding the institution, knowing about this student of great Louis Pasteur (for those who do not know, he was famous for pasteurization process) and his role in vaccinating Indian needs to be learntâ¦
Bacteriologist Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine
- Bacteriologist Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine though Russian by birth, become a French citizen later in life.
It may take Haffkine 12 months to start producing Covaxin
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“Any vaccine is a biological product and has to be produced with the utmost precaution of biosafety,” Sandeep Rathod, CEO of Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical, told ET. “This is coronavirus and they require BSL-111 facility and they need to have negative pressure facility, which means the virus even if leaked does not leave the facility.”
ET Bureau
Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation will take at least 12 months to start manufacturing Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccine because the company will need time to set up safe production facilities.
“Any vaccine is a biological product and has to be produced with the utmost precaution of biosafety,” Sandeep Rathod, CEO of Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical, told ET. “This is coronavirus and they require BSL-111 facility and they need to have negative pressure facility, which means the virus even if leaked does not leave the facility.”
Representative Image
MUMBAI: Nearly a month after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray raised a demand with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow Maharashtra’s Haffkine Institute to manufacture Covaxin at its facility, the department of science and technology approved its technology transfer from the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech to Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation on Thursday.
Chief secretary Sitaram Kunte confirmed the approval and said this is the first such nod for any state and the Maharashtra government has budgeted Rs 150 crore for expansion of the plant at the Parel facility. The approval has come on the basis of recommendations by the technical committee and Haffkine has been given one year to roll out the vaccines.