Union health minister launches first pneumococcal vaccine Developed by Serum Institute
The vaccine will be available in the market under the brand name Pneumosil
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan launched the country’s first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ‘Pneumosil’ developed by Serum Institute of India in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Recognising the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) as the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by the number of doses and its contribution to India’s economy, Vardhan remarked that its vaccines are used in 170 countries and every third child in the world is immunised with the manufacturer’s shots, the health ministry said in a statement.
The minister also said that SIIPL developed and got a license of the first indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) from the government during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat’, it said.
Serum Institute’s first indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine will be available in the market under the brand name ‘Pneumosil’ at an affordable price in a single dose (vial and pre-filled syringe) and multidose (vial) presentations.
“Pneumosil has been extensively evaluated in five randomised and 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,” Vardhan was quoted as saying in the statement.
