COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trials Begin At NIMS, Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: The process of conducting clinical trials for coronavirus vaccine, COVAXIN, began on Tuesday at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). The country's first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and National Institute of Virology, got the nod for human clinical trials from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has identified 12 clinical trial centres including NIMS to carry out COVAXIN clinical trials. The NIMS hospital authorities have made arrangements in this regard. Initially, it was announced that trials would be conducted from July 7 but it was later delayed.

On Tuesday, doctors have drawn blood from individuals and sent the samples to designated laboratories in Delhi. The first dose will be tested on a total of 375 people at 12 selected clinical trial centers across the country. It has been said that clinical trials are likely to be conducted on about 60 individuals at NIMS Hospital.

On the other hand, with the number of coronavirus cases increasing everyday in the country, ICMR is hoping to make the vaccine available as soon as possible.