Vaccine Update: Serum Institute Completes Enrolment For Phase 3 Trials Of Oxford Covid-19 Vaccine

Serum Institute and ICMR have completed the enrolment for phase 3 trials of Covishield, the Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine candidate.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: Pune-based pharmaceutical company Serum Institute of India & Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has announced the completion of enrollment for Phase 3 trials of the British-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca and Oxford university Covid-19 vaccine candidate named Covishield. A report by Mint says that trials will be conducted at 15 different centres across the country. On Wednesday, the CEO Adar Poonawalla, said that if the approvals from regulatory bodies are in place and in time a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is likely to be available in the country by January 2021. "Based on the success of the trials in India and the United Kingdom, and if approvals from regulatory bodies are in place in time, then we can expect the vaccine to be available in India by January 2021, only if it's proven immunogenic and efficacious," Poonawalla told the media. Serum Institute will provide the vaccine for low-and-middle-income countries. The vaccine shot has so far been given to thousands of people in India and abroad with no safety concerns Poonawalla said and it will take around two to three years to ascertain the long-term effects of the vaccine, he further added. According to a report published in the British medical journal The Lancet, the potential Covid-19 vaccine produced a dual immune response in people aged 18 to 55. AstraZeneca and Oxford University have said a two-dose regimen showed greater promise, while a single-dose injection is also being tested in trials.