Haryana Minister Anil Vij to take trial dose of Covaxin tomorrow

Among all the vaccine candidates, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is the only one which is undergoing Phase III trials. The Phase III trials will involve 26,000 volunteers across India and will be conducted in partnership with ICMR.

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij Thursday said he has volunteered to take the trial dose of Covaxin, India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The minister will take the trial dose on Friday at 11 am at Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt under the supervision of doctors.

“I will be administered trial dose of Coronavirus vaccine #Covaxin a Bharat Biotech product Tomorrow at 11 am at Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt under the expert supervision of a team of doctors from PGI Rohtak and Health Department. I have volunteered to take the trial dose,” tweeted Vij, who also handles the health and urban development departments.

Among all the vaccine candidates, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is the only one which is undergoing Phase III trials. The Phase III trials will involve 26,000 volunteers across India and will be conducted in partnership with ICMR.

Covaxin has been evaluated in approximately 1,000 subjects in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, with promising safety and immunogenicity data.

Among other coronavirus vaccine candidates, the phase-3 trial of the Oxford vaccine of the Serum Institute is almost near completion, while Dr Reddy’s Laboratories will also soon start the combined phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V.

Also, the Biological E Limited has started early phase 1 and 2 human trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate.

With 45,576 new Covid-19 infections, India’s total cases are now close to 90 lakh. With 585 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the toll mounts to 1,31,578. Of the 89,58,484 infections, active cases dropped to 4,43,303, while as many as 83 lakh people have been discharged.

Haryana has nearly 20,000 active Covid-19 cases as it recorded over 390 new cases and 30 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has expressed confidence that a vaccine will be ready in the next three-four months, adding that healthcare workers and those above 65 years would be on top of the list.

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