Vaccine testing laboratory in Hyderabad by next month: Union minister Kishan Reddy

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government’s efforts to bring a vaccine testing laboratory to Hyderabad have been paid off. The vaccine testing laboratory will likely become operational from August.
Union minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy on Saturday said the Centre had sanctioned two testing laboratories in the country. One in Hyderabad at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology under the Department of Biotechnology, while other at National Centre for Cell Science, Pune. As of now there are two vaccine testing laboratories (VTT) in the country at the Central Drug Laboratory in Kasauli and National Institute of Biologicals in Noida.
“Funds have been released from the PMCARES Fund on March 6 for setting up VTT laboratories at two more places-- Hyderabad and Pune. The commencement of operations of the VTT at Hyderabad is expected in next one month,” Kishan Reddy said.
He said Hyderabad is home to many big pharma companies, Covid-19 vaccine production companies and the concerned R&D institutions. Setting up of a new VTT at Hyderabad is a big step forward towards the comprehensive development of this sector which will also boost the production of Covid-19 vaccines, the minister said.
Telangana industries minister KT Rama Rao wrote three letters to union minister of health Harsh Vardhan in August, January 2021 and last month requesting the Centre to be established on a war footing. KTR said Hyderabad has emerged as the vaccination capital of the world as one third of global vaccine supply is produced in Hyderabad. The minister even suggested that the VTT can be set up at the national animal resources facility for bio-medical research, Genome valley.
Interestingly, the union minister did not respond to the letters, but Kishan Reddy claimed that the decision was taken in March, 2021 itself and funds were released immediately.
The union minister and Secunderabad MP on the behalf of the people of Hyderabad, has thanked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sanctioning the funds from “PMCARES Fund” for setting up of VTT at Hyderabad.