CHENNAI: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya said the renovation works of the Pasteur Institute of India (PII) in Coonoor would be completed in November 2021 and that it would be able to contribute vaccines to the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) by the first half of 2023.
The statement comes after DMK Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson had written a letter to the minister in May this year, demanding that he take steps to put the three vaccine manufacturing centres in Tamil Nadu — King’s Institute in Chennai, Integrated Vaccine Complex by HLL Biotech in Chengalpattu, and PII in Coonoor — to use.
Wilson had highlighted that all these centres have the necessary infrastructure to manufacture Covishield and Covaxin, two of the most widely used vaccines, on a large scale. In response, the minister stated that the Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus (DPT) facility at PII has been upgraded to the current good manufacturing practices (CGMP) standards in order to recommence vaccine production.
At present, the facility is under the qualification stage, and the performance qualification of its facilities, utilities, and critical equipment will be completed by November 2021. Thereafter, trial batches of the vaccines will be produced, he added.
Facility upgraded
The Union minister stated that the Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus (DPT) facility at PII has been upgraded to the current good manufacturing standards