The Texas-India vaccine diplomacy, cooperation for shared global health between the Indian pharmaceutical business Biological E and Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, has resulted in the creation of a low-cost vaccine against Covid-19 for USD 1.50 per dose.
Dr Peter Hotez, Dean National School of Tropical Medicine; professor of paediatrics, molecular virology, and molecular biology at Baylor College of Medicine, said at the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH) annual 2021 gala on Saturday that the collaboration has resulted in the development of a low-cost people”s vaccine in record time. He said that it will help vaccinate low-income countries in the coming months and fill the gap of 9 billion. He added that the COVID-19 vaccine, which will be available for emergency use in India soon, will be capable of producing 100 million doses every month.
Covaxin, a vaccine manufactured in India, has been approved for use in Guyana
The World Health Organisation (WHO) also respects the Biological E, Hotez said. He added further that their common objective is to make this vaccine available not only to India but to all of the world’s low- and middle-income nations, as a way of putting an end to the pandemic. They have been approached by several middle-income nations in Asia and Africa, and they are trying to transfer our manufacturing cell bank to them or have them work directly via Bio-E, he added.
This expedition, according to Hotez, would not have been possible without the genius of Indian scientists and several Texas donors, notably Texas Children’s Hospital and the M D Anderson Foundation, which raised USD 7 million for vaccine research. Hotez noted, amidst loud acclaim from nearly 600 participants at the 22nd IACCGH banquet, that “India’s vaccine producers are essential “India’s gift to the world.”
