They noted that the most important task before them was saving lives and livelihoods in India and globally
Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech on Tuesday said they will work together to develop, manufacture and supply the COVID-19 vaccines in India and globally.
In a joint statement on behalf of the two companies, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla and Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella announced their combined intent to develop, manufacture and supply the COVID-19 vaccines for India and the world. They noted that the most important task in front of them was saving lives and livelihoods in India and globally.
Vaccines are for global public health and they have the power to save lives and accelerate the return to economic normalcy at the earliest. Now that two COVID-19 vaccines have been issued EUA (emergency use authorisation) in India, the focus is on manufacturing, supply and distribution, such that the population that need it the most receive high quality, safe and efficacious vaccines, the statement said. The DCGI on Sunday granted emergency use authorisation for Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
"Both our companies are fully engaged in this activity and consider it our duty to the nation and the world at large to ensure a smooth rollout of vaccines. Each of our companies continue their COVID-19 vaccine development activities as planned," the vaccine makers noted. "The companies are aware of the importance of vaccines for people and countries alike, we hereby communicate our joint pledge to provide global access for our vaccines," they added.
Gas tragedy victims say they were unaware
Shocking allegations by victims of Bhopal Gas tragedy over trials of the Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin have come to the fore. NDTV reported it spoke to over a dozen victims who were part of the trials conducted by Bhopal's People's Hospital. They said that they were unaware of being part of a medical study and were told that the injections would prevent them from getting COVID-19. People living near the former Union Carbide factory said the hospital staff visited some of the neighbourhood areas and offered '750 as a princely sum in exchange for the injection. As many as 250 people had signed up to get the injections and few were informed of the risks.
India sees lowest new cases in 6 months
India recorded 16,994 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in six months, taking the country's caseload to 1,03,73,638, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Tuesday. The death toll increased to 1,50,089 with 260 new fatalities. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 99,95,457 pushing the recovery rate to 96.32 per cent.
20 more people test positive for UK strain
Twenty more people have tested positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2, taking the total number of such cases in the country to 58. The new cases have been identified at the National Institute of Virology Pune. "The total number of cases infected with the new strain of the novel Coronavirus first reported in the UK now stands at 58," the Union Health Ministry said.
1,03,73,638
Total number of cases in the country as of today
1,50,089
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India
99,95,457
Patients recovered and discharged in India as of today
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