HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy announced on Saturday that a vaccine testing laboratory would be established in Hyderabad at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, near Gachibowli. It is expected to commence operations in a month. Kishan Reddy said that funds from the PM CARES scheme were released on March 6, 2021, for setting up two new vaccine testing laboratories in the country — in Hyderabad and at National Centre for Cell Science, Pune — in addition to the existing ones at Central Drug Laboratory (CDL), Kasauli, and National Institute of Biologicals, Noida.

The MoS’ announcement comes close on the heels of Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao writing to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan last month, requesting him to establish the laboratory in Hyderabad.

I thank Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji for sanctioning funds for setting up of Vaccine Testing Lab at Hyderabad from #PMCares Fund.

A big step forward towards comprehensive development of pharma sector in #Hyderabad, which will also boost production of #Covid-19 vaccines. pic.twitter.com/smUU6SEAJC

— G Kishan Reddy (@kishanreddybjp) July 3, 2021

The minister pointed out that Hyderabad had emerged as the vaccination capital of the world, with one-third of the global vaccine supply was being produced here. Moreover, the entire process of sending vaccines from Hyderabad to Kasauli for testing takes close to 30-45 days, which was time-consuming, the minister added.

In a statement released on Saturday, the minister said, “Considering the fact that the city is home to many pharma and R&D companies, setting up the laboratory here is a big step towards overall development of the sector, which will also boost Covid-19 vaccine production.”