Pune: Scientists currently do not have tools to establish whether SARS-CoV-2 virus, which caused the Covid-19 pandemic, was artificially engineered or emerged naturally, said National Institute of Virology (NIV) director Naveen Kumar .
Kumar stressed that developing indigenous vaccine technologies remained crucial to tackling future pandemics While India meets nearly 70% of the WHO’s vaccine requirements and exports vaccines to more than 150 countries. Of the approximately 50 people in attendance, barely five were students, while the rest were predominantly speakers and organisers. “India supplies nearly 70% of the WHO’s vaccine requirements and exports vaccines and biological products to more than 150 countries.
I believe India will become self-sufficient in tackling future pandemics,” Kumar said While developing vaccines against different viruses remains challenging. India, however, needs to develop indigenous vaccine technologies to tackle future pandemics, he added. A few panellists at the session on ‘National Development through Medico Research and Drug Discovery’ also expressed disappointment over the low student turnout. However, many of the technologies we use are still developed in the West, and we largely manufacture vaccines using those technologies. We have now begun developing our own indigenous technologies. Covaxin , developed in collaboration with Bharat Biotech, is a good example.
The ‘Youth Development and Nation Building’ programme, jointly organised by Youth4Nation and IISER Pune on Saturday, saw a poor turnout of students, with the CV Raman Auditorium largely empty.