Covaxin trial in crucial second phase, 50 given dose in city

Nagpur: Human trials of Oxford-made Covishield vaccine may have stopped, but the made-in-India Covaxin entered a crucial second phase of its human trials on Friday.
In Nagpur, 50 participants were administered a dose of Covaxin, a potential Covid-19 vaccine made by Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL), ICMR and other government authorities. Dr Gillurkar’s Hospital and Research Institute in the city is the only centre in Maharashtra to conduct these trials.
“We have administered a dose to 50 participants. In the second phase, 750 participants will be administered the vaccine. Volunteers in the age group of 12 to 65 years have been enrolled for this phase,” said Dr Gillurkar.
These participants include 8 young men between 12 to 18 years of age and five senior citizens between 60 and 65. Out of the 50 participants, 22 were women.
“These participants were vaccinated in the last two days which will be considered as their respective day zero. They will be administered the second dose on day 14. The study will progress further as per the first phase,” said Dr Gillurkar.
In first phase, 55 participants were administered the dose in Nagpur. They were tested on the 14th and 28th day of the vaccination. Their blood reports are not declared in public yet, but they must be desirable as it was declared earlier that the second phase will start only if the desirable results come in first phase. In the first phase, the age group of volunteers was between 18 to 55 years. In the second phase, its between 12 to 65 years.