New Delhi, August 08: India is at the forefront of developing a swine flu vaccine that will be available in “four to seven months”, the government announced Friday as 96 new infections were reported.
Speaking to reporters here Friday, the Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said: “The process has been already set in motion and India is at the forefront of developing a vaccine.”
“But the vaccine will be available by four to seven months from now,” he added.
There is no known vaccine so far to tackle the virus that has infected over 700 people in the country so far.
Mr. Dayal said the World Health Organisation had given the “seed stock” of the influenza A (H1N1) virus to India.
The seed stock is the cultured virus, which has the highest vaccine immunity and is commonly present in majority of the affected cases. If the vaccine is developed from the seed virus then it is likely to be effective for other strains.
In India, three pharmaceutical companies – Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Panacea Biotech – are working on developing the vaccine.
The WHO is already collaborating with the Serum Institute of India for developing a seasonal flu vaccine.
Mr. Dayal said Serum Institute of India has made a lot of progress and started animal testing of the vaccine.
–Agencies