Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Saturday as part of his three-city tour to take stock of COVID-19 vaccine development.
After landing at Hakimpet Air Force station here, he was received by Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police, and other officials.
Officials said that he will be proceeding to Bharat Biotech’s facility located at Genome valley, a life sciences cluster about 20 km from the AF base.
Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, being developed byBharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virologyis now undergoing phase-3 trials.
The vaccine is being developed and will be manufactured at Bharat Biotech’s BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) facility in Genome Valley in Hyderabad.
Modi will be interacting with scientists and senior management of the city-based vaccine maker on the status of Covaxin, officials said.
After a stopover in Pune, the PM will be flying back to the national capital, where he will visit the Serum Institute of India (SII), which has partnered with pharma giant AstraZeneca and the Oxford University for the vaccine.
Earlier in the morning, Modi visited Zydus Cadila’s plant near Ahmedabad.
