PUNE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited the Serum Institute of India (SII) here and reviewed the progress of the 'Covishield' vaccine being made there.
The Prime Minister landed at Pune's Lohegaon airport at 4:30 pm from Hyderabad, on the last leg of his three-city vaccine work review visit. He then proceeded by helicopter to the Serum Institute campus at Manjari, located 17 km from the airport.
Modi interacted with scientists at the Serum Institute and had a walkabout of the facility, taking stock of vaccine development work being carried out there. At the facility, Modi was received by Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman of Poonwalla Group, and his son and SII CEO Adar Poonawalla.
They briefed Modi about the work being carried out at SII. Modi interacted with the Poonawallas, SII scientists and other executives, who briefed him on the progress of the vaccine. "Had a good interaction with the team at Serum Institute of India. They shared details about their progress so far on how they plan to further ramp up vaccine manufacturing. Also took a look at their manufacturing facility," Modi tweeted after his SII visit.
Serum Institute of India has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University for the vaccine. Modi left from SII for Pune airport around 6 pm and took off for Delhi at 6:25 pm, an official said.