Rohit Shishodia

Indian Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has launched India’s first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)-Pneumosil. The vaccine, which has been developed by the Serum Institute of India in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will be available in markets at affordable price in single dose (vial and pre-filled syringe) and Multidose (vial) presentations.

Launching the vaccine, Dr Vardhan informed that Pneumosil has been extensively evaluated in 5 randomized controlled clinical trials and has demonstrated comparable safety and immunogenicity against licensed pneumococcal vaccines across diverse populations of India and Africa, where Pneumosil was administered to adults, toddlers and infants using different vaccination schedules.

The minister pointed out that during clinical trials, Pneumosil was found to be safe and effective in the prevention of Pneumonia disease based on which Pneumosil has been licensed by Drugs Controller General (India) in July 2020 after approval from the Subject Expert Committee (SEC).

Dr Vardhan noted, “Pneumosil is an example of India's capability in Research and Development and manufacturing high end sophisticated vaccines.

“In fact, it is a matter of pride for our country for this historical milestone during Covid-19 pandemic because till now we are fully dependent on Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine manufactured by Foreign Manufacturers which are available at very high prices,” explained Dr Vardhan.

Pneumonia is the single largest infectious cause of death among children under five years of age worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 lakhs deaths globally.