New Delhi: India’s first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) was inaugurated by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan, today inaugurated . The vaccine “Pneumosil” has been developed by the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan took the occasion to remind the audience that pneumonia is the single largest infectious cause of death among children under five years of age worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 lakhs deaths globally.
The Minister said that SIIPL developed and got license of first indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) from Government of India during COVID-19 pandemic lock-down. He informed that this first Indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine will be available in the market under brand name “Pneumosil” at an affordable price in single dose (vial and pre-filled syringe) and Multidose (vial) presentations.
“Pneumosil has been extensively evaluated in 5 randomised controlled clinical trials and has demonstrated comparable safety and immunogenicity against licensed pneumococcal vaccines across diverse populations of India and Africa, where Pneumosil was administered to adults, toddlers and infants using different vaccination schedules,” he said and added that during clinical trials, Pneumosil was found to be safe and effective in the prevention of Pneumonia disease and based on which Pneumosil has been licensed by Drugs Controller General (India) in July 2020 after approval from Subject Expert Committee (SEC).
Dr. Harsh Vardhan noted, “Pneumosil is an example of India’s capability in Research and Development and manufacturing high end sophisticated Vaccines. In fact, it is matter of pride for our country for this historical milestone during COVID-19 Pandemic because till now we are fully dependent on Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine manufactured by Foreign Manufacturers which are available at very high prices.”
Recognising SIIPL as the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by number of doses and its contribution to India’s economy, Dr. Harsh Vardhan remarked that Serum Institute’s Vaccines are used in 170 countries and every third child in the world is immunised with the manufacturer’s Vaccine.
– global bihari bureau
