Why Hyderabad Is The World's Vaccine Capital

Hyderabad: As international vaccine companies and academic institutions race the clock to deliver a safe Covid-19 vaccine, all eyes are on India that makes 60% of the world’s vaccines

- Swati Bharadwaj

And within India, if there is one destination that all of them are making a beeline for it is Hyderabad. The city has the capacity to churn out well over a third of the global vaccine supply.

Be it India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin or Russia’s Sputnik V, Johnson & Johnson’s Ad26.Cov2.S, FluGen’s CoroFlu or even Sanofi’s under development vaccine candidates, all have a Hyderabad connect.

Whether a successful Covid-19 vaccine is developed in Hyderabad or not, a vaccine developed anywhere in the world will be churned out of Hyderabad, feels Dr Varaprasad Reddy, founder & chairman, Shantha Biotechnics Ltd.

“All Hyderabad vaccine companies are robust in manufacturing technology and have the capacity to manufacture millions of doses with good standards,” says Reddy, who is awaiting Sanofi’s own vaccine candidate in the first half of 2021, a chunk of which is expected to be manufactured in Hyderabad. Sanofi had acquired Shantha Biotechnics in 2009.