Inside The Lab Of World's Largest Vaccine Producer Making Covishield Vaccine

Serum Institute India was founded by Cyrus Poonawalla in the year 1966 with the aim of making life-saving vaccines, which at the time were not easily available in the country. These vaccines were imported at high prices, getting them out of reach for the underprivileged.

Serum Institute also made medicines and vaccines such as - Tetanus Anti-toxin and Anti-snake Venom serum, followed by DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis) group of Vaccines and then later on MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) group of vaccines.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India informed that the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine should be available for healthcare workers and elderly people by around February 2021 and by April for the general public. It will be priced at a maximum of Rs 1,000 for two necessary doses for the public, depending on the final trial results and regulatory approvals.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting during his visit to the Serum Institute of India to review the Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine development, in Pune.

Serum India is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in India, it has also achieved the name as the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (over 1.5 billion doses) which includes Polio vaccine as well as Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib, BCG, r-Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccines.

Apart from the massive Serum Bio-Pharma Park in Pune, they recently acquired two new pharmaceutical companies --? Bilthoven Biologicals in the Netherlands (in June 2012) and Praha Vaccines in the Czech Republic (in April 2017).

Serum Institute was one of the first pharmaceutical companies in India to start human trials for its recombinant BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) vaccine to test its efficacy against the novel coronavirus.

Sophisticated tunnel systems, high-speed vial washing, filling, stoppering and sealing machines are capable of working at a speed of 500 containers per minute and have been installed with superior filling accuracy.

The manufacturing facilities are managed, keeping global standards in mind. They’re approved by US’s Food and Drugs Administration.

Oxford University-Astrazeneca backed AZD-1222, to be marketed as Covishield in the Indian territory might be one of the strongest candidates we have right now, but it has been embroiled in controversies of late.