India sets up high-level task force to develop vaccine for coronavirus

News: The government formed a high level task force to research on coronavirus and develop a vaccine.

Facts:

• Aim: To enable COVID-19-related research by academia, industry and international community.
• Functions:
  • create clinical cohorts focussing on long term follow-up of people for better understanding of the disease.
  • collect bio-specimens which will form the basis for further trials of drugs and vaccines.
  • make a list of national and international organisations working on vaccine development
• Central coordinating authority: Department of Biotechnology (DBT)