New Delhi -As the world races to develop the vaccine for Covid-19, India is looking to be self-reliant in both its development and production.

While at least five pharmaceutical companies of India are engaged in vaccine development, Serum Institute in Pune has been chosen for mass production of Covishield vaccine developed by Oxford –Astra Zeneca. The government has initiated a robust Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing and delivery ecosystem to meet the demand.

Prime Minister has been personally monitoring the progress of vaccine development in India. He followed up his 3 city visit to the facilities of Zydus in Ahmedabad, Serum Institute in Pune and Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad on Saturday, with a virtual review of progress of indigenous vaccine development undertaken by Gennova Biopharma of Pune and Biological E and Dr.Reddys Laboratories in Hyderabad .

PM asked the companies to come out with their suggestions and ideas regarding the regulatory processes and related matters. He also suggested that they should take extra efforts to inform the general public in simple language about the vaccine and related matters such as its efficacy etc. Matters relating to logistics, transport, cold chain etc in respect of delivering the vaccines were also discussed.