Health Minister inaugurates India's first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan On Monday inaugurated India's first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine "Pneumosil", which has been developed by the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

As per an official release, recognizing SIIPL as the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines by number of doses and its contribution to India's economy, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that Serum Institute's vaccines are used in 170 countries and every third child in the world is immunized with the manufacturer's vaccine

He reminded the audience that SIIPL developed and got the license of the first indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) from the Government of India during COVID-19 pandemic lock-down in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', and also mentioned the extraordinary efforts of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in this endeavour to make India self-reliant in PCV.

Detailing the achievements of SIIPL in tailoring a vaccine for India's needs, Dr Harsh Vardhan 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 5 randomized 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."

He said that during clinical trials, Pneumosil was found to be safe and effective in the prevention of Pneumonia disease and based on which Pneumosil has been licensed by Drugs Controller General (India) in July 2020 after approval from Subject Expert Committee (SEC).

Congratulating the country's scientific and medical fraternity, the minister said, "I am sure that the team of Serum Institute of India and others in the entire scientific and medical community will continue their endeavour to develop many more life-saving vaccines in the future."

Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman, Poonawalla Group of Industries and Founder, Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL), Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer, SIIPL were also present at the event.