: The Man Behind India’s First COVID-19 Vaccine is a Tamil Farmer’s Son #IndiaNEWS #Coronavirus India has made its first COVID-19 vaccine. The developers of the drug, the Hyderabad-based firm

The Man Behind India’s First COVID-19 Vaccine is a Tamil Farmer’s Son #IndiaNEWS #Coronavirus
India has made its first COVID-19 vaccine.
The developers of the drug, the Hyderabad-based firm Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indias National Institute of Virology and Indian Council of Medical Research, have received approval from the drug control authorities to conduct human clinical trials of the vaccine christened ‘COVAXIN’.

This is the same firm that created the world’s cheapest Hepatitis vaccine and was the first in the world to find a vaccine for the Zika virus.

From Farming To Biotechnology
Dr Krishna Ella, the scientist who helped in creating the COVID-19 vaccine
Dr Krishna Ella was born to a middle-class family of farmers hailing from Thiruthani, Tamil Nadu. He first set out into the world of biotechnology through agriculture.
In an interview with Rediff, Krishna, who is currently the Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech International Ltd. (Bharat Biotech) said, “My initial plan was to keep farming after studying agriculture, but due to economic pressure, I joined Bayer, a chemicals and pharmaceuticals company as part of their agricultural division. This was the time that I got a scholarship from the Rotarys Freedom from Hunger Fellowship and went to study in the United States. ???
After completing his Masters at the University of Hawaii and his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Krishna returned to India in 1995.
In the same interview, Krishna points out, “I did not have any intention to return to India. It was my mother who asked me to return and pursue whatever I wanted. So I came back to India with a business plan to create a cheaper hepatitis vaccine as there was a heavy demand for it in India. ???
Krishna set up a small lab in Hyderabad with the medical equipment he had and that was the beginning of Bharat Biotech. The company submitted a project proposal for Rs 12. 5 crore with the hepatitis vaccine rate at 1 dollar while the contemporaries were priced at 35 and 40 dollars.
“We didn’t get the funding we expected so finally we turned to IDBI bank who funded us with Rs. 2 crores,??? he explains. In just four years time, the vaccine was launched in 1999, by then-President Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
The company supplied 35 million doses for the National Immunisation Programme at a price of Rs 10 per dose and has supplied 350-400 million doses in total to more than 65 countries.
Genome Valley Giving the Medical World Indias First COVID-19 Vaccine
Genome Valley

In 1996, Krishna Ella had put forth an idea to the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu to set up a biotech knowledge park devoid of polluting industries. Soon, he received approval and land from the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation to create the knowledge park ?— Genome Valley.