Pune, November 28: In what is expected to boost the morale of India's largest vaccine developer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited the Pune-based Serum Institute of India. The Cyrus Poonawalla-led firm has partnered with Oxford University and AstraZeneca to produce their vaccine candidate in India. COVID-19 Vaccine: Health Ministry Asks States, UTs to Take Steps to Prepare to Deal With Vaccination Side Effects.

Modi visited the site where the vaccine is being developed in India. The clinical trials are still underway at select-locations across the nation, and the commercial rollout is expected from January-February. The first tranche of the vaccine would be administered upon healthcare personnel and other COVID-19 frontline workers.

PM Modi Tweets After Visiting Serum Facility

"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," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after visiting the Serum Institute.

Adar Poonawalla, Serum CEO who was present in the meeting with PM Modi, said the Prime Minister was "impressed" on visiting their facility. "We explained in detail to the PM about how the vaccine is being developed," he told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Modi visited Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad to know more about the indigenous DNA based vaccine being developed by Zydus Cadila. He also visited Bharat Biotech facility at Hyderabad as part of his three-city visit to personally review the vaccine development and manufacturing process against COVID-19.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 28, 2020 07:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).