Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin has urged the Union government to take steps expeditiously to commence production of Covid-19 vaccine, at a facility owned by it near Chennai.
After inspecting the lab, which has been lying idle for many years, on Tuesday, Stalin said, “the Centre must immediately allocate funds to begin production here.”
The Centre-owned facility should become operational expeditiously and required financial allocation be set apart for commencement of production, the CM said.
The Integrated Vaccine Complex is located on a sprawling 100 acres and has state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing machinery capable of producing one million doses annually.
The facility was established to produce regular vaccines for Hepatitis-B, Haemophilus Influenzae Type B, rabies, Japanese Encephalitis E, BCG and Measles-Rubella, and Liquid Pentavalent Vaccine under the Universal Immunisation Programme of the Government of India.