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India Covid vaccine: Mumbai-based Haffkine gets Centre's nod to produce Covaxin

Mumbai - Haffkine has over the years developed many vaccines including anti-rabies and anti-venom serums and oral polio vaccines.

The Indian government has granted permission to state-owned Haffkine Biopharma Corporation, Mumbai, to produce Covaxin, an anti-Covid-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who has been urging prime minister over the past few weeks for clearing the proposal, thanked Narendra Modi for approving the project. The permission was given after the recommendations of an expert committee.

Haffkine is a Maharashtra government owned company and has over the years developed many vaccines including anti-rabies and anti-venom serums and oral polio vaccines.

Sitaram Kunte, the chief secretary of Maharashtra, got the go-ahead from the Science and technology ministry in Delhi, for producing the vaccine. It is initially valid for a year. Maharashtra is battling the Covid-19 crisis. Cities including Mumbai and Pune have witnessed the maximum number of cases and casualties. A state-wide lockdown is in force for the rest of April, as the government hopes to tackle the crisis.

On Thursday, 61,695 new cases had been registered in the state, and the overall Covid-positive patients add up 3.63 million. There were 349 deaths and 620,060 active cases. Maharashtra has seen a total of 59,153 Covid deaths so far.