Pune: Director of the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Dr Naveen Kumar has said that by the year-end, an indigenous vaccine candidate for H5N1 (a highly pathogenic avian influenza) would hopefully be ready.The institute has tied up with three different pharmaceutical companies and is working on multiple platforms of vaccine technology — including inactivated, live attenuated and mRNA — to get the best possible candidate against the virus.Kumar was in conversation with TOI on Wednesday. He said, “In recent years in India, we have seen H5N1 cases reported in goats, lions, cats, falcons and, of course, poultry. It means that H5N1 is highly pathogenic. During Covid 19, the mortality was less than 1%. In the case of H5N1, the mortality rate is very high at 50% — making it a potential pandemic candidate. Fortunately, at present, it does not readily transfer from animals to humans or humans to humans. In the last two to three years, spillover infections were reported in many animals. The situation was scary because it will be a disaster if the virus readily transmits from animals to humans and humans to humans.”“Since 2006, we have witnessed a surge in bird flu cases in poultry. But it rarely transfers to humans, especially in our country. We have surveillance on people who work in close contact with poultry at farms,” he said.NIV is also a National Influenza Centre and samples are tested twice annually to check for strains circulating in the environment. A regular report is sent to the World Health Organization, which then prescribes the necessary vaccine for the season.Kumar said that in 2025, an NIV team visited Kerala to isolate the virus and the institute is in the process to develop a vaccine. “We have one project with the Serum Institute of India, wherein we are going to develop a re-assortant vaccine against H5N1. We are making virus-like particles in another project with Premas Biotech and are working on an mRNA vaccine with Gennova,” he said.The NIV is also developing a wholly in-house inactivated vaccine platform. “We believe that in the next few months or a year, we will have a vaccine candidate ready to use at least in a state of emergency to prevent a potential threat. We will develop the vaccine technology. The manufacturing will be done by commercial partners, due to our limitations,” he said, adding that once the vaccine candidate is finalised, further clinical trials would be conducted along with pharmaceutical companies.On Wednesday, 30 school students visited the NIV on its annual day to understand its functioning. The intention was to inspire the children into joining the institute and contribute to the country’s development, added Kumar.
