The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) have joined hands to make the Coronavirus vaccine mm available to the public as soon as possible. ICMR has issued a statement where Director General Balram Bhargava has revealed that ICMR targets to launch the vaccine by August 15.

As the statement reads, "It is envisaged to launch the vaccine for public health use latest by 15th August 2020 after completion of all clinical trials. BBIL is working expeditiously to meet the target, however, the final outcome will depend on the cooperation of all clinical trial sites involved in this project".

ICMR has developed the indigenous Coronavirus vaccine in association with BBIL and has selected 12 institutes for the clinical trial of India's first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine. This vaccine project is involves a vaccine made from a strain of SARS-CoV-2 isolated by the ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. The 12 institutes have been asked by the ICMR to fast track clinical trials of the vaccine.