Union Health Minister Launches BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre

What is the News?

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has launched the BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre and Workshop on Vaccine Cooperation.

What is BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre?

Background: BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre was first proposed to be established as part of the 2018 Johannesburg Declaration. 

– In the New Delhi Declaration of the 13th BRICS Summit in 2021, BRICS leaders reiterated their commitment towards the early launch of the BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre in virtual format.

Purpose of the Centre: The centre will help to pool together complementary advantages of BRICS countries in vaccine research and development and boost the capacity of BRICS countries to prevent and control infectious diseases and provide timely help to other developing countries in need.

The Centre will work on basic research and development, preclinical and clinical studies and strengthen BRICS country’s laboratory capacities to develop and standardise assays for testing vaccine candidates.

What is the significance of the launch of the BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre?

India has one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturing industries, which supplies vaccines to more than 150 countries and meets 65-70% of the WHO’s vaccine requirements.

The vaccine industry in India functions in a dual-mode — 1) Product development, i.e., within the country and 2) Technology transfer through local-global partnership.

India has also so far approved nine vaccines for COVID-19 emergency use, of which five are indigenous. This also involves the world’s first-of-a-kind mRNA vaccine Gennova which has been developed indigenously.

Hence, the launch of BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre will help India to offer its robust vaccine manufacturing industry for developing vaccines for BRICS countries as well as the world.

Source: This post is based on an article “Union Health Minister Launches BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre” published in PIB  on 22nd March 2022