The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi will begin the human trials for indigenous novel coronavirus vaccine Covaxin from July 20. The institute will start screening healthy individuals who have enrolled for the vaccine trials.
The move comes after the AIIMS Ethics Committee gave its nod for the human clinical trials of Covaxin on July 18.
Speaking to the media about the development, Dr Sanjay Rai, Professor, Centre for Community Medicine, AIIMS, said: “We have got the approval from the AIIMS Ethics Committee to start the human clinical trial of the indigenously developed Covaxin. We are launching the enrollment process from Monday. We are going to select healthy participants with no comorbidities and without a history of COVID-19. This would be a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.”
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A total of 12 institutes will be conducting phase I and phase II of the Covaxin human trials, which includes AIIMS Delhi. The vaccine would be tested on 375 volunteers, of whom 100 would be from AIIMS.
The volunteers ought to be aged between 18 and 55 years and should not have any comorbidities. They would be kept under observation for about 150 days. To participate, volunteers will have to send an email to ctaiims.covid19@gmail.com or send an SMS to 7428847499 or call 7428847499.
Notably, Covaxin, India’s first potential indigenous vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease, was jointly developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited.
With ANI inputs
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