CRI likely to restart yellow fever vaccine at Kasauli

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Kasauli, April 28

The Kasauli-based Central Research Institute can restart manufacturing of the yellow fever vaccine.

A feasibility report, prepared by HLL Biotech which was assigned the job to submit a report on how to refurbish the institute’s old manufacturing facility by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has recommended upgrading it into a World Health Organisation-approved Good Manufacturing Practices lab.

This will pave the way for manufacturing yellow fever vaccine whose production was suspended in 2011.

CRI Director Dr Sunil Gupta said the institute was earlier producing 35,000-40,000 doses of the fever as against the national annual demand of about 1.20 lakh doses. The ministry is now importing the entire stock.

This vaccine is recommended for people going to Africa and South America and since a large number of armed forces personnel, labourers and safari enthusiasts visit these countries, they have to get vaccinated before leaving the country.

It is also learnt that a recommendation to enhance the capacity of the vaccine has also been made to ensure that the country is not dependent on import. The upgrade of the facility will cost crores and though the ministry is keen to reduce its dependency on import, whether the project will sustain is a question which is still being debated. This is more so as after the polio-free world, the focus of international health agencies is on yellow fever.

Training of the staff in WHO-approved facility, the presence of contamination-free water, which is a major requirement for a vaccine manufacturing unit, and posting of the adequate staff are some suggestions put forth by the institute management.

Since the commercial production of DPT is yet to begin from the other GMP facility set up in the institute in 2013, the move to upgrade the old lab into a GMP lab at this stage is not considered a good option.