New Delhi: Days after advising the state governments to establish cold storage facilities for the COVID-19 vaccine beforehand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-city visit on Saturday to personally review the vaccine development and manufacturing process. PM Modi will visit the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), which has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and the Oxford University for the COVID-19 vaccine. The firm has been given the contract of producing one billion doses for India and other developing countries.
Besides, he will also the two other sites —Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad and Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad, where ZyCoV-D and country-made COVID-19 vaccine are being developed respectively. Before reaching Hyderabad, the Prime Minister will be visiting the facilities of Zydus Cadila in Ahmedabad and the Serum Institute of India facilities in Pune.
“As India enters a decisive phase of the fight against COVID-19, PM Narendra Modi’s visit to these facilities and discussions with the scientists will help him get a first-hand perspective of the preparations, challenges and roadmap in India’s endeavour to vaccinate its citizens,” PMO tweeted.
Here’s his full itinerary:
At 9 AM, Prime Minister Modi will arrive at the Ahmedabad airport.
At around 9: 30 AM, PM will arrive at the Zydus Cadila plant in the Changodar industrial area.
The Prime Minister is expected to spend around two hours at the Zydus Cadila plant.
At around 11:30, he will depart for Pune to the Serum Institute of India.
The Prime Minister is expected to reach Pune around 12:30 pm.
From there, he will fly to Hyderabad to visit the Bharat Biotech facility.
The PM will land at Hakimpet Air Force station and proceed to the facility in Genome Valley at 3:45 pm.
PM Modi is scheduled to fly back to Delhi in the evening