PUNE: The visit of ambassadors and high commissioners of 100 countries to two local vaccine manufacturing facilities, scheduled for December 4, has been cancelled.
Pune collector Rajesh Deshmukh said the external affairs ministry informed the district officials of the cancellation through a letter without specifying any reason. “We only received the letter of cancellation on Friday. Maybe they would reschedule the trip,” Deshmukh said.
The cancellation came just a day after divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao said the envoys’ tour — described as a daylong ‘familiarization visit’ — was confirmed by the MEA. The trip was originally scheduled for November 27 before it was postponed to December 4. The envoys were to fly in from New Delhi and visit Serum Institute of India (SII) and Gennova Biopharmaceuticals.
Meanwhile, the administration said it has made all the preparations for PM Modi’s visit to take stock of development of the vaccine at SII today.