Narendra Modi to visit Pune’s Serum Institute of India on Saturday

The local administration officials in Pune said they have received confirmation about the Prime Minister’s visit.

Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao said, “The Prime Minister’s visit to Pune has been confirmed and he will visit the Serum Institute.” Modi will arrive at Pune around 1300 hrs and leave around 1430 hrs, as per the tentative schedule, said officials.

Senior administration and police officials have already started preparing the groundwork for the visit.

Preparatory meetings between district administration officials, police, Serum Institute office-bearers and central government entities were held last evening.

A ‘familiarisation visit’ of Foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners based in New Delhi to Pune has also been scheduled for December 4.

“Ambassadors and High Commissioners from nearly 100 countries are slated to come to Pune on December 4. The Ambassadors and High Commissioners will visit both Serum Institute and Gennova Biopharmaceuticals,” said Rao.

As per the official programme of the Foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners, they will arrive at Pune around 1000 hrs on December 4, and will visit the Serum Institute and Gennova Biopharmaceuticals in two alternate groups.

Earlier this week, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute, had said that Phase 3 trials of the Covishield vaccine were underway and while UK trial results have been released, they expect the data on the Indian trials to be out within a month.

Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is all set to start Phase 1 human clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. After Moderna and Pfizer, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is the only Indian company that has worked on making a mRNA-based Covid vaccine. The first two Covid-19 vaccines to announce Phase 3 results were mRNA-based.