On Friday a 30-year-old man gets the first dose of India’s coronavirus vaccine ‘Covaxin’ at Delhi’s All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Total of 12 volunteers were called for pre-tests that include blood and nasopharyngeal testing for COVID-19.
After results, only 10 healthy individuals were selected for the vaccine trial.The country’s top medical institute AIIMS is among the 12 sites selected by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for organising Phase I and II randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trials of Covaxin.
“A first dose of 0.5 ml of the intramuscular vaccine was administered to him on Friday. He was kept under observation for two hours. A diary has been handed over to him for continuous monitoring of the conditions. We will also coordinate with him daily for atleast a week to understand if he is facing any kind of medical issues,” said Dr Sanjay Rai, Principal Investigator Covid-19 vaccine trial at AIIMS
Dr. Rai said in the first round, they have a ratio of 60:40 (female: male).
“The screening process is done to ensure that the subject is healthy with no co-morbid medical complications. Two other centres in India have started trials and administered the proposed vaccine to human volunteers,” he said.
“There are three formulations of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Each subject will be given any one of the formulation in two doses two weeks apart. The first 50 will get the lowest strength dose of the vaccine. If it is found to be safe in them, then it will be given to another 50 patients in high doses,” added Dr. Rai.
India’s COVID-19 tally zoomed past 13 lakh on Saturday, just two days after it crossed the 12 lakh mark, while the recoveries mounted to 8,49,431, according to the Union Health Ministry.
With 48,916 fresh cases, the country’s coronavirus infection tally surged to 13,36,861, while the death toll rose to 31,358 with 757 more people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours, data updated by the ministry at 8 am showed.
There are currently 4,56,071 active cases of COVID-19 in the country.
Thus, around 63.54 per cent people have recovered so far. The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further dropped to 2.35 per cent on Saturday, the ministry said.
