Haffkine Institute should lay stress on research on COVID-19 vaccine: Maha CM

For this, efforts should be made for COVID-19 vaccine technology transfer from the ICMR and Bharat Biotech (which developed Covaxin), Thackeray said.

The chief minister said the state government will help in setting up a modern vaccine research centre in the institute in time to come.

He said it is praiseworthy that the institute, which has played a big role in making India polio-free, produced over 28 crore vaccines in the past six months.

But considering the situation in the state, it is required that the institute carries out research on a COVID-19 vaccine soon.

"It will be a matter of pride for all of us if the institute succeeds in producing (COVID-19) vaccine, Thackeray said.

The statement said a committee, formed by the government under the chairmanship of renowned scientist Dr Raghunath Mashelkar to suggest a roadmap for reforms at the institute, has talked about the need to allocate ₹1,100 crore to implement five projects over a period of half a decade.

According to the statement, Thackeray said the government supports the completion of the five projects and asked the authorities to prepare a detailed plan in this connection within the next 15 days.

The state Medical Education Minister and senior bureaucrats are part of the institute's governing council.

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