Vaccine trials: 4 big centres get priority over Nagpur

Nagpur: The wait to take part in the first human trials in India for the Covid-19 vaccine has just got longer for volunteers in Nagpur. Only four big hospitals across the country have initiated the trials yet, with the Nagpur leg expected at least a week later.
Dr Gillurkar’s Hospital and Research Centre is the only trial site in Maharashtra for human trials, and has been flooded with phone calls from people willing to be ‘subjects’. However, the phase I is being initially conducted in the four big sites out of 12. So, enrolment of participants in Nagpur will take a week or two more.
“We have several volunteers and are still getting calls,” said Dr Gillurkar. “I came to know today that four big hospitals among 12 sites will be initially starting the Phase I trials. Till then, we have to be ready with volunteers. It will take a week more,” he said.
The four hospitals shortlisted for early trials include two AIIMS (Patna and New Delhi), NIMS Hyderabad, and King George Hospital, Vizag.
In the meanwhile, some centres, including Nagpur, have started the process of shortlisting volunteers for trials. In Nagpur, the hospital received phone calls even from people in Pune and Akola to join in. The centre has got more than 50 interested candidates. It will begin collection of blood and urine samples of each participant and send them to central laboratory (New Delhi) by July 13. In Delhi, it will be assessed whether the candidates are fit for trials.
The process revealed so far makes it clear that the vaccine trial is going to take at least six months. Experts said the participants will be administered first dose of vaccine on Day Zero. Their progress will be tested on Day 14, Day 28, Day 42, and so on. After satisfactory results of Phase I, the second phase will be conducted on 750 participants. At present, enrolments are going on only for the first phase.
This development has made it clear that the vaccine cannot be expected before August 15, but results of Phase I trials could be expected. Experts told TOI that positive results of Phase I trials could be a major breakthrough in the process.