Coronavirus vaccine update: India begins Phase 3 human trials of COVID19 vaccine, says NITI Aayog

Coronavirus vaccine, COVID19 vaccine tracker: Around the world, there are eight vaccine candidates that have managed to enter the phase 3 trials. (Reuters image)

Coronavirus vaccine phase 3 human trials are beginning in India, NITI Aayog announced. The central government has requested manufacturers to indicate potential prices of coronavirus vaccines, NITI Aayog member V.K. Paul said. Meanwhile, the Chinese vaccine developed by Sinopharm is said to be available by December 2020 and will cost Rs 10,000 for two doses, as per a Global Times report. Australian Prime Minister has assured that the COVID19 vaccine will be made available for free for its citizens.

NITI Aayog member V.K. Paul has said that “one vaccine is in the stage of phase-3 trials, the other two are also progressing well and are in the phase 1-2 of clinical trials.” However, Paul did not reveal the name and details of the potential COVID19 vaccine candidate.

He said that the central government has reviewed these experimental coronavirus vaccine candidates. He said that potential coronavirus vaccines are making good progress. He also said that the outline of the Coronavirus vaccine administration and supply chain is ready.

Coronavirus COVID19 vaccine price: The central government has been holding discussions with coronavirus vaccine manufacturers over pricing. The Coronavaccine manufacturers have been asked by the central government to reveal the cost of the COVID19 vaccine. The central government has been exhorting manufacturers to ramp up “capacity with facilitations”.

India has two indigenous vaccines which are undergoing human trials. These are COVXIN and ZyCoV-D. Covaxin is being developed by Bharat Biotech, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and National Institute of Virology, Pune. COVAXIN already completed phase 1 human trials in just one month. It had begun its Phase 2 human trials. Human trials of COVAXIN are going on in 12 sites across India. Zydus Cadila is developing the other potential COVID vaccine ZyCoV-D. Meanwhile, the Pune-based Serum Institute is also beginning the phase 3 human trials of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s coronavirus candidate.

Around the world, there are eight vaccine candidates that have managed to enter the phase 3 trials. These are Oxford-Astra Zeneca, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNtech, Beijing Institute of Biological Products-Sinopharm, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products-Sinopharm, Sinovac, Cansino, and Russia’s Sputnik-V. Meanwhile, Sputnik-V has been given conditional registration and China’s Cansino has received patent and approval for military use.