Over 6 crore Covid vaccine doses sent to 76 nations

Chandigarh: More than 6 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been sent to 76 nations, while 4.5 crore doses have been administered to beneficiaries in the country till now, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

During a media interaction at the Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH) here on Sunday, Vardhan said: "Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party (BJP) president J P Nadda have called for making the vaccination drive a 'jan andolan' (mass movement)."

In a major boost to entrepreneurship in life sciences, Vardhan, the Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, inaugurated IMTECH Bio-Innovation Centre which is an extension of the Atal Incubation Centre (AIC)-CCMB, Hyderabad.

The aim of the IMTECH Bio-Innovation Centre is to become a hub for life sciences, biotechnology start-ups and MSMEs from all over the country in a short span of time.

Sanjeev Khosla, director, IMTECH apprised the minister about the various activities of the institute and especially the work done by scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic in the last one year.

Science has the potential to solve many of our longstanding issues, they may belong to any sector. When I see the science happening in all the labs of CSIR and other places, I feel convinced that it (science) has the potential.

That is why, we have been telling our scientists that we have to have a very people-centric approach and whatever we do in the labs, it should have a connect with the people for the future, Vardhan said.

The minister also urged the scientific community to use their experience around coronavirus to be ready for any unforeseen thing like (the disease) which the future may throw up.