Covid-19 vaccine India update: PGI Rohtak to start phase-2 trial of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin

"We got permission from Bharat Biotech to start a phase-2 human clinical trial of their vaccine. We've 300 volunteers, aged between 12 years and 65- years, out of which screening of 15 has been completed."

"We hope to get vaccine dosages by tomorrow morning," Dr OP Kalra, vice-chancellor, PGI Rohtak said.

Covaxin is one of the frontrunners in the race for a Covid-19 vaccine in India. It is an “inactivated" vaccine — it works by injecting doses of the virus that have been killed aiming to prompt the body to build antibodies against it without the virus posing a threat.

Each stage of a vaccine’s clinical trial tests its safety and ability to develop an effective immune response. Phase 1 focuses on determining safety and dosage in a small group of healthy participants, while the second phase looks at the vaccine’s effectiveness. The third phase looks into these aspects in a much larger population that would represent a wider demographic.

Zydus Cadila's candidate based on viral DNA is the other Indian COVID-19 vaccines in second phase trial.

"In India, Bharat Biotech's vaccine candidate based on inactivated virus procured by ICMR is in the Phase II trial along with Zydus Cadila's candidate which is based on viral DNA. The Oxford vaccine candidate developed by Serum Institute of India is already in Phase III trial in Maharashtra and some other States," Niti Aayog member Dr Vinod K Paul had said

Meanwhile, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Monday claimed that the clinical trials of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will be held in several countries, including India, starting this month. Reports said that Russia was in close dialogue with India and leading drug manufacturers of the country regarding the localisation of the production of the vaccine in India.

On Monday, India surpassed Brazil to become the country with the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world. The total coronavirus cases in the country reached 42,04,614 including 8,82,542 active cases, 32,50,429 cured/discharged/migrated and 71,642 deaths, as per the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.