PM Modi's tryst with Make-in-India vaccine

The trust in domestic technology, manufacturing eco-system and our regulatory regime was demonstrated by PM Narendra Modi when he decided to get Covaxin shot for himself. Indian manufacturers, not only served domestic needs, but also ensured its availability to many other countries. India has shown we can do without the manipulation of multinationals like Pfizer.

- RAKESH K CHITKARA

As covid stuck and in the absence of any vaccine or therapeutic solutions, India had to lock down the nation in line with rest of the world. This allowed the Governments to focus on solution instead managing of the crisis. After a long wait, we finally got two Indian vaccine manufacturers ready to roll out the jabs for healthcare workers first and later for rest of the public in phases. Bharat Biotech's Covaxin was a completely indigenous technology developed jointly with our premier agency, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). This vaccine contains an inactivated virus which does not infect people but triggers the immune mechanism for effective defence. With Covishield of Serum Institute, India was able to vaccinate majority of its eligible population in the short time. Drug Controlled General of India, our regulatory agency, worked overtime to evaluate the data on the safety parameters to allow the production and release of the vaccines.

The trust in domestic technology, manufacturing ecosystem and our regulatory regime was demonstrated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he decided to get Covaxin shot for himself and was among the first few users of the Indian vaccine. Indian manufacturers, not only served domestic needs, but also ensured its availability to many other countries. We demonstrated the true Indian philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” which means world is one family and in the testing time, we are altogether.