As the third phase of clinical trials for Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, is about to begin in Haryana on November 20, state Health Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday offered to become the “first volunteer” for the vaccine trial.
“Trial for third phase of Covaxin a coronavirus vaccine product of Bharat Biotech to start in Haryana on 20th November. I have offered myself as first volunteer to get vaccinated,” he tweeted.
Earlier on Monday, Bharat Biotech had announced about the beginning of Phase III trials of COVAXIN that involves 26,000 volunteers across India. Volunteers who wish to participate in this trial should be adults over 18 years of age. In Haryana, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences in Rohtak and ESIC hospital in Faridabad have been identified among those sites across India where trials will be conducted.
It is said to be the largest clinical trial conducted for a country-made Covid-19 vaccine using the virus strain isolated by ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV) based in Pune. Trial volunteers will receive two intramuscular injections approximately 28 days apart. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive COVAXIN™ or placebo. The trial is double-blinded, such that the investigators, the participants, and the company will not be aware of who is assigned to which group.
Dr. Ramesh Verma, co-investigator of the research, said that permission has been given to start the third phase. “In this phase, apart from health workers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians and patients with controlled sugar, BP, heart, asthma can also get vaccinated. Till now, no volunteer has faced any problem and all the volunteers who have been given dose of the vaccine in the two phases have not yet had any side effects. Not only this, there is no report of any volunteer getting corona infected.”
India’s hopes of an effective COVID-19 vaccine are now lying on locally-tested candidates as the ones developed by Pfizer and Moderna may not be available in big quantities owing to their cold-chain requirements.
