New Delhi: As Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is on war-footing to bring a vaccine for COVID-19 by mid-August, the government too is hopeful. The central government said on Sunday that the vaccine is now in human trial stage which “marks the beginning of the end”.
Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN and Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D are the two vaccines that have entered the human trial stage along with 11 other candidates worldwide.
As many as six Indian companies are working on vaccines for COVID-19 along with 140 other firms across the world.
Exuding confidence over India’s technological developments, the ministry of Science and Technology said, “In the past years, India has emerged as one of the significant vaccine manufacturing hubs. Indian manufacturers account for 60 per cent of vaccine supplies made to UNICEF.”
The Ministry also said that regardless of which nation comes up with the COVID vaccine, they will have to depend on India for its ability for mass production.
Earlier in the month, the ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava had written to 12 trial sites for the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Covaxin, saying that all clinical trials need to be completed by August 15.
