the first major mutation called the Alpha mutation. We immediately took on a national network to tackle that. Before this, institutions were doing their own genome sequencing. We did sample sequences across the country, which did not reveal any mutations of relevance, but when the first variant of concern was announced, we immediately took this up. And from then till now, we built a very strong network that is called the INSACOG”. She also emphasized the country’s outstanding success in establishing INSACOG, noting that it began with only ten laboratories.
Dr Swarup spoke about the organization and its progress throughout the year. She said, “It is a multi-agency network which has the Department of Biotechnology, Union Health Ministry, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and Council of Scientific And Industrial Research (CSIR). Now, we have the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Indian Institute of Science, and most importantly many state government laboratories that will come on board. It is a network of about 35 laboratories and we are now moving clearly towards a network of about 50 laboratories. We have expanded to bring in the private sector, as partners wherever we feel the need for expanded capacity. We have in addition the sentinel sites which are around 300 across the country”. Since the nationwide immunization program began in January of this year, India has distributed over 75 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr Swarup expressed her congratulations to the people of the country over the achievements. She said, “It is a matter of great pride for us that today is the 75th year. We have been able to complete 75 crore vaccinations. It is a number which is many times more than the population of any country. What is also a matter of much greater pride is that all these vaccine doses have been manufactured and developed within our own country”. She added, “This is clearly a recognition of the strength that we have in our scientists along with our vaccine developers and our manufacturers. Congratulations to everybody who has been a part of this mission.”
