Covid vaccine at least a year away: Top scientists to MPS

The government’s top scientists and officials on Friday told a Parliamentary committee that a vaccine to cure Covid-19 could take at least a year to develop, and that, they said, was their most optimistic assessment.

The panel of lawmakers was told that India, a leading manufacturer of vaccines and generic medicines, which develops nearly 60 per cent of the world’s vaccines, is expected to play a key role in the worldwide race to develop a vaccine.

However, the reliance of Indian pharma industry on Chinese APIS (advanced pharmaceutical ingredients) was recognised as a “huge strategic concern” with few shortterm solutions.

With some of the best Indian students unable to leave for studying in foreign universities because of Covid19, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) also told the committee how this offered an opportunity to check brain drain. The CSIR suggested raising the number of postdoctoral research fellowships from 300 to 800 every year starting from 2021, and also the number of PHD scholars through CSIR-NET examination from 5,000 to 7,500. The proposal would require an additional budget of ~2,388.22 crore over the next five years, it said.

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research suggested setting up a “strategic think tank for science and technology” to plan for future pandemics.

The CSIR also said present times offered an opportunity to the govt to check brain drain