Dr. Sweety Samal, Scientist with THSTI was a part of and the youngest in the Indian delegation during the Indian Virology & Vaccine Mission to Netherlands from 8th to 11th July. The visit was aimed at bringing together people from industry and academia in India and Netherlands to catalyze the process of bilateral development of research and development in the field of vaccines and therapeutics through collaboration and open dialogue, and steering the agenda of one health mission. The objective was to develop innovative collaborative strategies for coordination and execution of work done by researchers across India and Netherlands in the field of vaccines.

"The whole visit gave us an opportunity to come across the scientific flavors of institutes at Netherlands and investigators in the area of public health, vaccine and viruses. Furthermore, we came to know about the emerging technologies and more importantly about the One Health Initiative. Both the Indian and Netherlands participants acknowledged the unique mandate being pursued by THSTI and appreciated the vision and steps being taken by THSTI for highly integrative and collaborative programs both on national and international fora. The next steps would be to highlight the common area of research interest/themes between India and Netherlands to establish a bilateral scientific collaborative pathway, at the upcoming Tech Summit in October where Health will be an important topic of discussions. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) will also push both the governments for funding in collaborative grants to support PIs from both sides", said Dr. Sweety Samal on the visit. The delegation visited National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Intravacc, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC),  University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) and other institutions.

The mission was organized by Netherlands Enterprise Agency from Dutch Embassy (RVO), Task Force Health Care (TFHC), Netherlands and Netherlands Business Support Office, India. The other organizations who were a part of the Indian delegation were Indian Immunological Limited, Gennova, Tergene and Hilleman Labs.