HAFFKINE GETS GREEN SIGNAL TO PRODUCE COVID VACCINE
Congress leader Eknath Gaikwad dies due to COVID-19 Maharashtra government allocates Rs 94 crore to set up the production facility
Veteran Congress leader and former Member of the Parliament (MP) Eknath Gaikwad, 81, on Wednesday, succumbed to COVID-19 while undergoing treatment for the same.
Gaikwad was a prominent Dalit face with mass support in Dharavi, which is Asia’s largest slum. He was elected to the state assembly from the Dharavi seat in 1985, 1990, 1999 and 2004. He was also a minister in the Sharad Pawar-led cabinet from 1993 to 1995 and, later, in the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led council of ministers from 1999 to 2004.Gaikwad, who is the father of Maharashtra Minister of School Education Varsha Gaikwad, was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and 2009 from the south central Mumbai constituency. However, he could not win in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
Gaikwad held the post of the executive president of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee after the then President Milind Deora resigned after his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
Condolences poured in from various political parties grieving the death of Gaikwad. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat condoled his death.
The Maharashtra Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, on Wednesday, permitted Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation to produce COVID-19 vaccines. Haffkine, with the assistance from the Departments of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, will set up a production unit to manufacture Covaxin using the technology transferred from the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech at Parel with a capex of Rs 154 crore. The central government had already given its nod on April 15 to Haffkine to produce the COVID19 vaccine.
The state cabinet approved the allocation of Rs 94 crore from the Contingency Fund towards the proposed capex. As reported by the Free Press Journal, on April 17, the central government sanctioned
Rs 65 crore for the same. Haffkine had sent the proposal in January this year and it has been approved by a highlevel committee attached to the Department of Biotechnology.
Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation MD Sandeep Rathod will develop a production facility as per the central government’s guidelines, especially pertaining to the temperature to be maintained. He said that the production of Covaxin will not be started immediately. However, he hoped that it would be launched by March 2022.
Haffkine will produce 22.8 crore doses annually. Rathod said the vaccine cannot be put to use immediately, but can be administered later also as other vaccines are used.
“The vaccine produced by Haffkine will be used for long term and at an affordable price,” said Rathod.