New Delhi, Oct 23 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday praised the efforts of the vaccine manufacturers in crossing the milestone of 100 crore jabs and asked them to work together for future challenges.
Modi noted that vaccine makers played a big role in India's success story.
During an interaction with vaccine manufacturers at his residence, the Prime Minister appreciated their hard work during the pandemic.
He said the entire world is looking up to India. Modi also said the vaccine manufacturers should continuously work together to be ready to face future challenges.
"The domestic vaccine manufacturers appreciated the vision and dynamic leadership of the Prime Minister in providing continuous guidance and support towards the development of the vaccines," a PMO statement said.
The vaccine-makers applauded the regulatory reforms and timely approvals by the government and noted that such collaboration between the government and industry had never been seen.
They also stated that if the country had been following old norms, there would have been considerable delay and reaching the 1 billion doses mark would have been difficult to achieve.
Adar Poonawala, CEO of Serum Institute of India, appreciated the regulatory reforms brought out by the government.
Krishna Ella, founder and chairman of Bharat Biotech, thanked the Prime Minister for having taken Covaxin, and for the continuous support and motivation during its development.
Pankaj Patel, chairman of Cadila Healthcare, thanked the Prime Minister for talking about DNA-based vaccine in the UN General Assembly.
Mahima Datla, Managing Director of Biological E, commended the vision of the Prime Minister which helped the country attain the vaccination milestone.
Dr. Sanjay Singh of Gennova Biopharmaceuticals talked about the importance of innovation and backward integration in the field of vaccine development.
Satish Reddy, Chairman of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, appreciated the collaboration between government and industry throughout this endeavour. Dr. Rajesh Jain lauded the continuous communication by the government throughout the pandemic.
The interaction was attended by Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India; Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech, Pankaj Patel (Zydus Cadila), Sanjay Singh of Gennova Biopharmaceuticals and Satish Reddy of Dr. Reddy's Lab.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, and other ministers were also present at the interaction.

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