New vaccine manufacturing facility will be opened soon in Hyderabad

A new facility with ‘substantial capacity’ for vaccine manufacturing will be opened soon in Hyderabad, with a high-level United States delegation, led by US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Chief Operating Officer David Marchick, to participate in a signing ceremony with regard to this later this month.

The delegation will be visiting Hyderabad as part of a multi-nation tour to advance DFC investments helping boost global health and expand Covid-19 vaccine production capacity. DFC vice-president of Development Credit Jim Polan and other DFC senior staff will accompany Marchick.

The delegation, which will first visit South Africa, will arrive in India on October 24 and in Hyderabad, will visit the offices of vaccine manufacturer Biological E. The delegation, according to an official press release, will participate in a signing ceremony to open a new facility with substantial capacity for vaccine



manufacturing. This work is in support of the commitment set out by President Biden and his counterparts in the ‘Quad’ – Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, the release said.

So far, the United States has committed to donating 1.1 billion doses of vaccines and has already shipped nearly 200 million doses to developing countries – more doses than the rest of the world combined, it said, adding that the DFC’s financial tools were driving growth in vaccine manufacturing capacity in multiple regions, with multiple technologies and within large and small countries.

DFC’s support was projected to facilitate capacity expansion to produce nearly two billion Covid-19 vaccine doses across the globe by the end of 2022, with more projects in the pipeline. The agency was also working on expanding access to critical therapeutics and introducing medical equipment designed for low-resource environments, the press release said.