Serum Institute's 'COVISHIELD' vaccine trials begin in Pune; 2 administered with dose

 Kicking off second phase of Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine trials in India, Pune's Bharti Vidyapeeth's medical hospital on Wednesday, has administered two volunteers with Serum Institute of India's 'COVISHIELD' vaccine. While 5 volunteers were zeroed in, Medical Director Sanjay Lalwani, said that three of them showed anti-bodies, hence only two were administered the vaccine. 'COVISHIELD' is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which will be manufactured by Serum Institute of India's (SII) - world's largest vaccine producer.

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Serum's COVID trials

SII has initiated phase 2 and 3 of trials for evaluating the response in terms of safety and immunity of the vaccine on healthy Indian adults, after receiving approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI). The study, which would be conducted, will consist of 1,600 participants, all either being more than 18 years of age or equal to it. Apart from Pune's  Bharti Vidyapeeth, B J Medical College Hospital in Pune, AIIMS Delhi, Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, Nehru Hospital in Gorakhpur and Andhra Medical College in Visakhapatnam have been shortlisted to hold trials. 

"Our manufacturing facility is ready and we plan to start production in two months. We are spending more than USD 100 million for this facility. Till the trials are completed successfully for safety and efficacy, vaccines will not be distributed either in India or anywhere else in the world," Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India (SII), said in June.

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Other vaccine contenders' progress

Apart from COVISHIELD, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D are currently in human trial phases. India is in talks with Russia about its COVID-19 vaccine - 'Sputnik -V' and the Centre has also met with the three potential candidates to track the vaccines' progress. While India hopes to get a vaccine ready by 2020 end, the Centre readying a blueprint for mass production and vaccine distribution. 

India's Covid count has risen to 32,34,474 infections, of which 7,07,267 cases are active and 59,449 fatalities. 24,67,758 people have recovered, improving the recovery rate to 76.29 percent. Also, the ICMR is increasing the capacity of COVID-19 tests by the day, with 3,76,51,512 till date.

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