AIIMS has begun the first phase of the trial for India’s indigenous Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin on Monday. Covaxin has been developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (I C M R). AIIMS had called for volunteers for the trial and it has got an overwhelming response. The institute needs only 100 participants for the trial, 1,800 people registered to volunteer for the tests. Dr Sanjay Kumar Rai, a professor in the community medicine department at AIIMS, who is heading the trials, told T O I that their phone hadn’t stopped ringing since Saturday when they received approval for the first phase trial. “We have now stopped taking calls,” Dr Rai said. “We are considering only email and WhatsApp messages sent to the centralised number for registration.”