Govt approves vaccine production at Haffkine

In a significant development aimed at ramping up vaccine production, the Centre has approved rolling out vaccines from the Maharashtra government-owned Haffkine Institute.

Over the last few weeks, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had requested for production of vaccines in Mumbai and has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the two back-to-back video conferences with CMs of Covid-19 affected states.

The Haffkine Institute located in Parel in Mumbai will produce the Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin under a technology transfer agreement. Soon after the approval, Thackeray thanked Modi for the formal nod, a press statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said. Department of Science & Technology Secretary formally informed Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte of the approval for a period of one year, the CMO said.

The Haffkine Institute has the capacity to produce 22 crore doses annually.

The Haffkine Institute was established in 1899 and is named after the legendary scientist Dr Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine who invented the plague vaccine. Since then, Haffkine Institute has emerged as a multi-disciplinary institute engaged in training, research and testing of various aspects of infectious diseases.

The first-ever Phase-I clinical trial in India was perhaps conducted by the founder of the Haffkine Institute in 1899, when he injected himself with the plague vaccine he developed for evaluating its safety and efficacy. In the first half of the twentieth century, the institute extended its scope against various other common infectious diseases.