Subject Enrolment For India’s First Covid 19 Vaccine Trial Begins; 375 To Be Tested In Phase 1

Hyderabad based Nizam's Institute of Medical Science (NIMS) have started enrolling subjects for phase 1 clinical trial for the indigenous Covid 19 vaccine candidate Covaxin.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: The Hyderabad based hospital Nizam's Institute of Medical Science (NIMS) have started enrolment of subjects for clinical trials of Covaxin, India’s first coronavirus vaccine candidate. According to a report by IANS, the medical facility has started enrolment for phase 1 clinical trials. ALSO READ| Coronavirus: Overall Covid-19 Tally Crosses 7 Lakh-Mark In India; Death Toll Jumps Past 20K How will the subjects be selected? The report says that subjects will first be tested for physical fitness and their blood and swab samples will be sent to ICMR-designated lab in New Delhi. After getting reports, NIMs will check further and issue fitness certificates to the subjects. What will happen during trials? Each subject will receive two vaccine dosages of three micrograms and six micrograms. The second dose will be given 14 days after the first one. After the subject, is injected the vaccine, they will be monitored for two days in the ICU. If there are no complications, they will be sent home and further monitoring will be done virtually. The report says that phase 1 of the trial will have 375 subjects while phase 2 will see 875 subjects. ALSO READ| Thieves In PPE Loot Jewellery Shop In Maharashtra, Flee With 780 Gms Of Gold ICMR's deadline Last week Bharat Biotech had announced that the vaccine being developed by the company will soon enter human trials. The vaccine being developed by the Hyderabad company is India's first vaccine candidate to enter clinical trials. According to a report by ANI, 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. But the vaccine is now in controversy after the ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava sent a note to institutes participating in the trials to fast track all the approvals for launch and to initiate subject enrolment by July 7. The medical body also stated that the vaccine trials have to be completed by August 15 before its public launch. The instruction is facing criticism from experts across the country who feel that it is not feasible to develop a functioning vaccine in such a short time.