Three Covid-19 vaccine candidates have reached advanced stages of testing in India, the ICMR informed on Tuesday. More than 1,750 people across the country will be taking part in the coronavirus vaccine trials.
As the world waits with bated breath for a vaccine for Covid-19, three vaccine candidates have reached advanced stages of testing, the ICMR said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the routine government Covid briefing, DG ICMR Dr Balram Bhargava said that three Covid-19 vaccines are ahead in the race in India. Three Covid-19 vaccine candidates, including two indigenous ones, are in different phases of development in India.
These three promising Covid-19 vaccine candidates are the Oxford University vaccine being produced by the Serum Institute in India, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D.
Informing the country about the different stages of testing the three Covid vaccine candidates are, Dr Bhargava said, “Serum Institute’s vaccine is in phase 2(B) and phase 3 trials with 1,700 people taking part I trials, Bharat Biotech will start phase 2 and Zydus Cadila’s vaccine has completed phase 2 with 50 people already.”
Clinical development of vaccines is a three-phase process. During Phase I, small groups of people receive the trial vaccine. In Phase II, the clinical study is expanded and the vaccine is given to people who have characteristics (such as age and physical health) similar to those for whom the new vaccine is intended. In Phase III, the vaccine is given to thousands of people and tested for efficacy and safety.
This means that at least 1,750 people are already participating in coronavirus vaccine trials in India and the number is only expected to go up when Covaxin phase 2 trials start and Zydus enrols more participants.
While several Covid vaccines are being developed around the world, one of the most prominent candidates is Russia’s Sputnik V, which created news when it was approved by Moscow despite not passing through all stages of testing.
Speaking about talks regarding this, Union Health Ministry secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, “As far as Sputnik-V vaccine is concerned, India and Russia are in communication. Some initial information has been share
(Courtesy India Today)
