Clinical trials at 12 institutes across the country successful

Covaxin, India’s first coronavirus vaccine is safe

New Delhi – According to the latest reports, the preliminary results of Phase I clinical trials of Covaxin show that India’s first coronavirus vaccine is safe to use. The vaccine has been jointly developed by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech in collaboration Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). 12 medical institutes across the country were select to conduct Phase I/II trial of the homegrown vaccine, including AIIMS Delhi, Patna, Post-Graduate Institute (PGI) of Medical Sciences in Rohtak and Gillurkar Hospital and Research Institute in Nagpur.

The Phase I clinical trials of India’s first indigenous vaccine are currently underway on 375 volunteers at 12 medical institutes across the country. The trials are to be concluded by the end of August, paving way for the second phase of clinical trials. While the findings from the first phase of the trial will be submitted soon, early findings are pointing that the vaccine is safe and does not induce any adverse side-effects in the volunteers.

Dr Savita Verma, the principal investigator who is leading the trial at PGI, Rohtak, said that no adverse reactions have been observed in the volunteers so far. She said, “The vaccine is safe. We have not observed any adverse events in any of the volunteers at our site”. If all goes well, the vaccine will be ready for use in the first 6 months of the next year.