HYDERABAD: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday urged the scientific fraternity to focus on expediting the development of Covid-19 vaccine for children. He was addressing the scientists and staff of Bharat Biotech International Limited — developer of Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin — following a visit to its plant at Genome Valley in Hyderabad.
Naidu emphasised that the vaccination drive against Covid-19 should become a pan-India ‘Jan Andolan’ and appealed to people to take the required doses. “There is no room for vaccine hesitancy. There is no other more powerful way to protect ourselves and people around us,” he added.
He also commended the development of a nasal Covid-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech as an important initiative, pointing out that it can reduce vaccine hesitancy and improve ease of administering. He lauded Bharat Biotech scientists for developing Covaxin in a short time-frame.
614 CASES OF COVID, 4 DEATHS IN STATE
Telangana conducted 1.11 lakh tests and recorded 614 cases of Covid-19 on Friday. The State now has 9,141 active cases, as 657 individuals have recovered from the virus. The highest caseload of 73 was reported in the GHMC limits. Four people died of the virus on Friday, taking the toll to 3,800 Meanwhile, Mancherial MLA N Divakar and four of his family tested positive for Covid