New Delhi: The cases of coronavirus infection continue to rise in the country and on Friday it surged past 69 lakhs. At this time, the wait for an effective coronavirus vaccine continues. Russia is the only country so far that has announced an approved vaccine for Covid-19 although questions have been raised over its safety.

Here's an update on the Covid 19 vaccine trials in India.

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AstraZeneca’s trials

The vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is being tested at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER). According to a Hindustan Time report, the 53 volunteers who have been administered this vaccine have now shown to any adverse side effects after 7 days of trials. Last month, the Serum Institute of India (SII) got approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) to restart the re-enrollment procedure for Covid-19 vaccine following the recommendations made by Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB). The trials were paused temporarily after an unexpected and serious adverse reaction in a participant in the UK

Russia’s Sputnik V

Russia had inked a deal with India's Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to supply about 100 million doses of its Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine for trial and distribution in the country. But an expert panel in Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has asked Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to revise its protocol for conducting both phase 2 and phase 3 human clinical trials of Sputnik V, the Russian Covid -19 vaccine.

Citing that safety and immunogenicity data from early-stage studies conducted overseas is small and that there are no Indian inputs, the CDSCO has asked Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to conduct a small trial first before it jumps to a large sample, reported Reuters.

India's Covaxin

On June 29, Bharat Biotech had announced the Covid-19 vaccine candidate which was developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). ICMR had also partnered with the pharma company to develop the vaccine. Last month the vaccine maker received approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation to conduct Phase-II. According to a report by The Print, the vaccine maker has now approached the Central government panel for Phase 3 testing. In September, the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that although no launch date has been fixed the Coronavirus vaccine is likely to be ready by the first quarter of 2021.

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