INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Bhubaneswar: The third phase of the human trial of the indigenous vaccine against COVID-19, COVAXIN, will commence at a private hospital in
Bhubaneswar soon, an official said.The search for a suitable vaccine for COVID-19 has almost come to the final stage, Dr E Venkata Rao,
Principal Investigator in the COVAXIN human trial and Professor in the department of Community Medicine at the Institute of Medical Sciences
Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) where the third phase trial would be conducted.The indigenous vaccine, being developed by ICMR
and Bharat Biotech has received the approval of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for initiating the third phase trial
After completion of the first and second phase of the trial with demonstrable safety profile and immunogenicity, the large-scale efficacy
Clinical Trial Unit (PTCTU), said during this phase the age limit and eligibility/ screening criteria would be relaxed and several
volunteers who are otherwise apparently healthy would be recruited for the trial.Like the previous phases, half of the volunteers would
receive placebo and the remaining half would be administered COVAXIN in this phase
Even health care workers would be recruited for the trial
The volunteers would be followed up over a considerable period of time to look at the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing the development
He said persons above 18 years will be taken for the human trial.The interested volunteers for the project could enroll themselves for the
trial by registering online at www.ptctu.soa.ac under the section register for clinical trials, he said.
