Govt sets up new labs at Pune, Hyderabad to fast-track testing of vaccine lots for quick supply

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Two new vaccine testing facilities have been set up as Central Drug laboratories at Pune and Hyderabad with state-of-the-art modern facilities and completed in record time with financial support from PM CARES Fund, according to an official statement.</p>
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The decision to set up the two new labs was taken proactively to fast-track testing and pre-release certification of vaccine batches as the production of doses is being ramped up to meet the increased demand under the free vaccines for all scheme, the statement said.</p>
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Currently, the nation has only the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) at Kasauli for testing and pre-release certification of vaccines meant for human use in India. Vaccines manufactured at Pune and Hyderabad have to go all the way to Himachal Pradesh for testing which wastes a lot of time. The new centres will drastically reduce the time taken for clearing fresh batches for distribution to the vaccine centres, a senior official told Indian Narrative.</p>
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The facilities are expected to test around 60 batches of vaccines per month. Both the laboratories are geared up to test existing COVID-19 accines and other newer COVID-19 vaccines that will be rolled out. This will not only expedite the vaccine manufacture and supply but also be logistically convenient considering that both Pune and Hyderabad are the two vaccine manufacturing hubs.</p>
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The Centre’s Department of Biotechnology has set up the two vaccine testing facilities in its Autonomous Research Institutes National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune, and National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, (NIAB) Hyderabad as Central Drug Laboratory (CDL), for batch testing and quality control of vaccines, the official statement said.</p>
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The facility at NCCS, Pune, has now been notified as Central Drugs Laboratory for testing and lot release of COVID-19 vaccines vide. Gazette notification issued by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on 28th June 2021.The facility at NIAB, Hyderabad is likely to receive necessary notification shortly, the official statement added.</p>
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“Pune-based Serum Institute of India has said it plans to ramp up its vaccine manufacturing capacity by 50% to 10-12 crore doses by June-end. Similarly, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is also going to increase its production of Covaxin by July-end to between 10-12 crore doses per month," Dr N K Arora, Chairman of the COVID-19 working group, had said recently. Bharat Biotech currently makes 10 million doses of Covaxin a month. Besides, the production of new vaccines such as Sputnik V will also start soon.</p>
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The two new labs will help to expedite the clearance of these doses for distribution to the vaccination centres in the country.</p>