Nearly five months since novel Coronavirus first appeared in India, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi is all set to begin human trials of India's first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin. The institution has called out for healthy volunteers who can enrol themselves for undergoing trials.


Covaxin is developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).


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Things To Know About Covaxin


Hyderabad based company Bharat Biotech is India's first vaccine candidate to enter clinical trials.  the company developed the vaccine, Covaxin in collaboration with ICMR and the national institute to virology (NIV) by using a strain of  SARS-CoV-2 which was isolated at the NIV. The inactive virus was then used to create Covaxin in the company’s Bio Safety Level 3 (BSL-3) lab located in Genome Valley, Hyderabad.


Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) has given approval for conducting phase I and II of clinical trials of the vaccines. This is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.


In Phase I, only small groups of healthy individuals receive the trial vaccine whereas in Phase II the group is expanded and people from different age groups such as the elderly are added.


ICMR has selected about 12 sites for conducting phase I and II human trials of Covaxin. AIIMS Delhi is one among the 12. In phase I, the vaccine would be tested on 375 volunteers and the maximum of 100 of them would be from AIIMS.


The major development amid the pandemic has come after AIIMS’s Ethics Committee gave its nod for a human clinical trial of Covaxin on Saturday.


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Volunteers Enrollment Process


The Delhi unit of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will begin human trials of India's first indigenous vaccine, Covaxin, on 100 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 years from Monday, July 20.


Healthy persons having no comorbid conditions and without a history of COVID-19 will be eligible to enroll themselves for the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of Covaxin.


The volunteers will have to undergo tests, which include Covid-19 test and also tests for other comorbidities. If found healthy, they will be administered the vaccine.


AIIMS has set up a dedicated email and phone number for the volunteers to register themselves for this project. Volunteers willing to register for human trials can email at ctaiims.covid19@gmail.com. Subjects willing to enroll may also drop an SMS to or call on 7428847499.


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