Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday embark on a three-city tour across the country to review the progress of the coronavirus vaccines that are being developed at three noted pharmaceutical facilities in India.
Making the announcement on Twitter, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Modi will visit Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune to check out the vaccine development work at the facilities there.
“Tomorrow, PM Narendra Modi will embark on a 3 city visit to personally review the vaccine development & manufacturing process. He will visit the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad & Serum Institute of India in Pune. As India enters a decisive phase of the fight against COVID-19, PM @narendramodis visit to these facilities & discussions with the scientists will help him get a first-hand perspective of the preparations, challenges & roadmap in Indias endeavour to vaccinate its citizens,” the PMO tweeted.
This will be the Prime Minister’s first visit to pharma major Zydus Cadila’s plant near Ahmedabad, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said earlier in the day.
The PM will arrive at the plant in the Changodar industrial area, over 20 kms from Ahmedabad, around 9:30 am.
Zydus had earlier announced that the Phase-I clinical trial of their vaccine candidate ‘ZyCoV-D’ was complete and the Phase-II trials had commenced in August.
From there, he will fly to Hyderabad to visit the Bharat Biotech facility around 1:30 pm. The PM will land at Hakimpet Air Force station and proceed to the facility in Genome Valley, roughly 50 kms from Hyderabad. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is currently undergoing Phase-3 trials.