All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) located here for the third phase of India Biotech's Kovid-19 vaccine is not getting a sufficient number of voluntarily vaccinated people (volunteers). Officials say that people are not thinking that when the vaccine will be available to everyone soon, then what is the need to participate in the trial.
AIIMS is one of the designated institutions for the final phase of the vaccine trial called 'Kovaxin'. The institute needs about 1,500 people for the trial. Covaxin is being manufactured jointly by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Dr. Sanjay Rai, Professor and Principal Inspector of this study at the Department of Community Medicine at AIIMS, said that we needed around 1500 to 2000 people but only 200 people have come so far. People are not participating in this process thinking that when the vaccine is going to be received by everyone, then what is the need to participate in the trial.
He said that when the voluntary people are told about the process, then they refuse to participate in it. Dr. Rai said that after knowing about the process of a clinical trial, people refuse to participate, saying that when the vaccine is going to be received soon, why participate in it.
He said that when the first phase of the trial was about to start, he needed a hundred participants but 4,500 applications were received. At the time of the second phase of the trial, the hospital received four thousand applications.
Dr. Rai said that people should participate in trials. He said he plans to resort to advertisements, emails, and phone calls to spread awareness about the need to participate in vaccine trials.