Phase 3 trials of this COVID-19 vaccine to begin in India

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Coronavirus Vaccine (Image: Pexel.com)
Coronavirus Vaccine (Image: Pexel.com)

New Delhi : The health ministry claimed on Tuesday that the phase 3 trials of the Oxford vaccine will begin in India this week.

Addressing a weekly press conference, Dr VK Paul, head of the national task force on COVID-19, said that the vaccine candidate has shown some motivating results in earlier phases and the third phase will begin soon.

The health ministry also notified that the other two vaccine candidates are in phase-I or II of their pre-clinical trials. No name of the vaccines has been revealed till date. 

ChAdOx1, a coronavirus vaccine candidate has been developed by Oxford University and manufactured jointly by the Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune and AstraZeneca, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, jointly developed with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the third is ZycovD by Zydus Cadila.

As PM Modi also mentioned in his Independence Day speech, India currently have three vaccine candidates and as soon as scientists give green signal, a mass production will start.

According to a news report, the phase 3 trials of the Oxford vaccine will begin in Pune and Mumbai in Maharashtra and Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Moreover, the vaccine will be administered to 1,600 people in this phase.

Who will get the first dose?

As per reports, people who have not been infected by the virus will be the first ones to get the first dose of the vaccine.

People who have tested positive for the virus and others who have developed antibodies against the virus will not be given the doses.