Covaxin trial: AIIMS New Delhi invites volunteers for Phase-III clinical trial

AIIMS Centre for Community Medicine, Dr Sanjay K Rai informed through the advertisement that Phase I/II trials have already been completed.

New Delhi: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) based in New Delhi on Thursday (December 24) invited volunteers for the Phase III clinical trial of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate `Covaxin` for which it is one of the sites.

"AIIMS, New Delhi is a site for COVAXIN Phase III clinical trial. This is a whole-virion inactivated vaccine co-sponsored by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech," AIIMS said in an advertisement.

AIIMS Centre for Community Medicine, Dr Sanjay K Rai informed through the advertisement that Phase I/II trials (safety and immunogenicity) have already been completed.

According to the premier medical institute, persons who are interested in the trials may contact the hospital administration at the phone number +917428847499 or email at ctaiims.covid19@gmail.com. The last date of enrolment is December 31, 2020.

Earlier, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on December 19 had said that country`s scientists and health experts have worked on the development of an indigenous vaccine and in the upcoming six to seven months India will have the capacity to inoculate about 30 crore people.

The six vaccine candidates which are in various stages of the clinical trial are - Covishield, Covaxin, ZyCoV-D, Sputnik V, NVX-CoV2373, and recombinant protein antigen-based vaccine, according to the Health Ministry.

In addition to the above six which are in various trial stages, the following three are in pre-clinical trial stages - HGCO 19, inactivated rabies vector platform, and Vesiculo Vax platform.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday that the Delhi government is fully prepared to receive, store and give COVID-19 vaccine to priority category persons in the city in the first phase of vaccination.

Kejriwal said his government is all set to start the vaccination drive as soon as it gets the vaccine from the Centre, and registration is underway for people in three priority categories who will receive it first.

In a virtual press briefing, Delhi CM said, "There are a total of 51 lakh priority category persons in Delhi -- three lakh health workers, six lakh frontline workers, and 42 lakh of those aged above 50 and those below 50 but having co-morbidities." 

Each person will be given two doses, and a total of 1.02 crore doses will be required in the first phase of vaccination in Delhi, he said, adding that there is storage capacity for 74 lakh doses, and it will be scaled up to 1.15 crore within a week.

In the past few days, the COVID-19 situation in Delhi has improved significantly, but all eyes are set on when the vaccine will be available and people will get rid of the virus, Kejriwal added. 

On Wednesday, Delhi has recorded 871 fresh COVID-19 cases and 18 new fatalities, while the positivity rate slipped to 0.99 per cent, the lowest in the last eight months. 

(With Agency Inputs)