Bharat Biotech- an Indian firm, has started the human trials of COVAXIN at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) located in New Delhi, India. Covaxin would be India’s indigenous vaccine against Covid19, caused by Coronavirus. And the results seem to be promising so-far.
Covaxin was developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), both based out of India. Last month, The Covid19 vaccine got the nod for human clinical trials from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
“First part of Phase-1 of vaccine trial (Covaxin) has been completed. Fifty people across India were administered the vaccine, and the results were encouraging. Six people were administered the vaccine on Saturday under the second part of phase-1,” ANI quoted Dr.Verma as saying. As per CTRI, phase 1 and 2 trials of Covaxin can take up to 15 months for completion. The results of these trials would determine the suitability of the vaccine for public usage.
Covaxin’s Phase 1 Trials will be conducted on 375 volunteers
AIIMS at New Delhi is one of the 12 trial sites identified across India for the human trial of Covaxin. The trial at AIIMS started on 24th July 2020 with a 30-year-old man receiving the vaccine through injection. A total of 12 volunteers selected for pre-tests. In the end, ten suitable candidates were identified for the trial.
A total of 375 people have volunteered for the phase 1 trials of Covaxin. IIMS will test 100 people from this larger group. In this phase, the testing sites will vaccinate a small group of healthy people with no morbid health conditions and monitor them. This data will then be studied to decide whether it is safe to administer this vaccine in larger groups.
Read this article of ours to understand more about Corona and Covid19 along with preventive measures.
Even the expedited human trials for vacccines will take months. Experts believe it will take atleast a year more for enough vaccines to be produced and vaccinating the larger public to achieve herd immunity. Until then, Practice physical distancing, wear masks when out in public and be safe.
