Mumbai (Maharashtra): The Union government has given its permission to the Mumbai-based Haffkine Institute to manufacture Covaxin, an anti-coronavirus vaccine of Bharat Biotech, an official said on Thursday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had earlier requested the Centre to allow the Haffkine Institute to produce Covaxin, which is currently produced by the Hyderabad-based Biotechnology company, the official from the chief minister's office (CMO) said.
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Renu Swarup, secretary of the Union Science and Technology Department sent the approval letter to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte, the official said.
Swarup informed the state government that the Centre has approved its request of using the infrastructure of Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited for Covaxin production. It was done after approval given by the experts, he added.
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The Union government has granted one year period to the state to carry out the production.
Accordingly, the chief minister has asked Kunte to appoint a senior officer to monitor and carry out the production in the given time frame, the official said.
Following the decision by the Centre, CM Thackeray thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accepting his request and allowing the Haffkine Institute to manufacture Covaxin via transfer of technology.
(With inputs from agencies)
