Mission Covid Suraksha

The covid-19 outbreak has impacted a lot of people in India. Right from the individual families to the vast economy of the country, coronavirus has impacted the people and the economy. Amid the search for the right vaccination, the Government of India came up with a project to facilitate the discovery of the needed vaccination. The mission was named Mission Covid Suraksha. The mission was to extend help to the Covid-19 vaccine development. Mission Covid Suraksha assisted from the research and development and licensing to the marketing of the six potential candidates for Covid-19 vaccines. Like the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Mission Covid Suraksha is an initiative to ensure enough vaccine supplies in the country. 

An Overview Of Mission Covid Suraksha 

To facilitate the development of accessible and affordable Covid-19 vaccines for India, Mission Covid Suraksha was launched. The government announced financial assistance for vaccine development through a stimulus package. Therefore, it is called the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission. 

The mission’s Phase-I allotted a grant of Rs. 900 Crores for twelve months. For the Research and Development of the Covid-19 vaccine, the amount was sanctioned to DBT, The Department of Biotechnology of India. 

The mission’s focus was to foster the Covid-19 Vaccine development, both at pre-clinical and clinical levels. The fund sanctioned was used to develop, manufacture, and facilitate the vaccines at a low cost. 

The implementation of the mission resides in the hands of a unit of BIRAC- the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, dedicated to the Mission Covid Suraksha.

Under Mission Covid Suraksha, the grant package was announced during the 3rd stimulus. 

Aim of Mission Covid Suraksha

• Fund the preclinical development

• Fund the clinical development

• Strengthen the existing laboratories to improve working speed and manufacturing

• Ensuring financial assistance and other aid to central laboratories

• Facilitating efficient animal studies

• Supporting the production of Covid-19 Vaccines

• Financing the trials and tests

• Ensuring availability of affordable and accessible Coronavirus Vaccines in India.

What Is The Launch Date Of Mission Covid Suraksha?

To speed up the Covid-19 vaccine development, the Government of India came up with Mission Covid Suraksha. The mission was a favourable twist in the course of the pandemic. The grant in its Phase I was Rs. 900 Crores to accelerate the development of Covid-19 vaccines. The Launch Date Of Mission Covid Suraksha is December 1, 2020. 

Mission Covid Suraksha – Objectives

• Development of the required products for developing Covid-19 Vaccines

• Upgrading the infrastructure needed for the speedy development of Cobvid-19 vaccines

• Efficient development of the required human capital

• Upgrading the technology and developing the technology transfer

• Funding the different phases of vaccine production:

• Conducting trials and testing of vaccines

• Manufacturing of the Covid-19 Vaccines

• Licensing of various coronavirus potential vaccines

• Establishing and making the sites available for clinical trials of the Novel coronavirus vaccine candidates. Moreover, the mission focused on strengthening the laboratories and sites already existing and assisting the external and internal management systems.

• Providing required support to the development of effective common protocols, regulatory submissions, and pieces of training and the systems of data management.

• Process supporting Cell Line Development, Process Development, and GMP batches manufacturing for facilitating animal toxicology studies.

• Target Product Profile Development, ensuring the compatibility of the Covid-19 Vaccine’s characteristics to its applicability in the country.  

The Candidates For Mission Covid Suraksha’s Vaccine

Amid the Novel Coronavirus pandemic, the world tried its best to produce various vaccines to curb the spread. The most common thing about any vaccination is its trial. Every vaccine, be it for any medical aid, has to go through a trial. When the trial is successful, it can be launched for use. Reaching the phase of the human trail is a challenge in itself for the vaccines. Similarly, among the ten potential candidates for coronavirus vaccines in the Covid Suraksha Mission, only a few were passed, considering them to be the safest. The following Covid vaccines successfully made their places in human trials:

SputnikV: This coronavirus vaccine was named after the satellite, Sputnik I. SputnikV was registered by Russia and is the first-ever vaccine for Covid-19 

Covexin: This vaccine was developed in collaboration with the IMCR (the Indian Council of Medical Research) by Bharat Biotech and is the first ready to use Indian Vaccine. 

ZyCov-D: Zydus, the pharmaceutical company, developed another ready-to-use Indian Vaccine named ZyCoV-D. This was developed by DBT’s National Biopharma Mission. 

Covishield: Covidshield was another Oxford-Astrazeneca Vaccine that passed the Phase-III trial conducted by SII- The Serum Institute of India

BNT162b2: Another Covid-19 vaccine to be used in human trials was BNT162b2. It is developed by the American Pharmaceutical Company, Pfizer. 

Mission Covid Suraksha Key Points

• The Government introduced the mission to meet the growing need for a reliable Covid vaccine amid the pandemic

• The grant under the Phase I of this mission was Rs. 900 Crore

• There were about 10 candidates for vaccines

• The approved vaccines so far are Covaxin, SputnikV, Covishield and Pfizer

• However, the vaccines in India today include: Covexin, SputnikV, Covishield, and Corbevex

• The responsibility of implementation of the mission was given to DIRAC’s Mission Implementation Unit.

Conclusion

To meet the growing need for Covid-19 vaccines, the Government of India initiated the Mission Covid Suraksha, under which the grant was sanctioned to meet the R&D, the trials, and speedy production of the successful Covid-19 vaccines. A few candidates are now used in India.