80 foreign envoys to visit Hyderabad's Bharat Biotech, Biological E limited today

Organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, the visit of 80 foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners is aimed to familiarize the foreign envoys about some key research and development activities being conducted in the country.

Five well-equipped buses have been pressed into service to bring foreign envoys from the airport to the vaccine manufacturing center.

A presentation would also be given to showcase the state's potential in the production and supply of vaccines. Pharma City and Genome Valley will also be showcased on this occasion.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech, Pune-based Serum Institute of India, and the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorization.

Hyderabad airport has also begun prepping temperature-controlled containers and zones to store millions of doses expected to be made available over the next few weeks and months after the approval of DCGI.

"Developing the vaccine is only half the problem. Distributing them worldwide will be a logistical challenge on an unimaginable scale. Fortunately, some organizations are stepping up to make sure the best possible logistical arrangements for the shipping of the vaccines. GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) has a major role cut out in the entire value chain of vaccine shipments to provide the necessary infrastructure for unbroken cool-chain for the global vaccine shipments to maintain vaccine integrity," said GMR Hyderabad Airport authorities.

The GMR Hyderabad noted that as vaccines are highly sensitive shipments, GHAC will leverage its efficiency in handling the Pharma for the last 12 years of operations to maintain an unbroken cool- chain.

The terminal offers one of India's largest fleet of modern temp-controlled Cool Containers viz. Envirotainer, VaQtec, etc. GHAC recently launched Cool Dolly- a mobile refrigeration unit for airside transportation of temperature-sensitive Pharma and Vaccine shipments.

"GHAC is already handling various traditional vaccine shipments for global exports and imports. The GHAC Pharma Zone is well equipped in providing seamless processing of critical vaccines," GMR said.