Chandigarh: Vaccine trials for kids to take place at PGI too

CHANDIGARH: PGI will be one of the sites for phases second and third of trials of Covovax — a vaccine against Covid-19 — on children.
There will be 10 such sites in the country and PGI is one of them. “I had been contacted for the same. But we have to get clearance from the institute’s ethical committee. Once this is done, we shall be able to know how many subjects can be taken from our site for the trial,” said Prof Madhu Gupta, principal investigator of the study in PGI.
The total sample size will be 920 and 460 each will be for the age group of 12 years and 17 years and 2 years and 11 years of age group. Sources said around 100 subjects will be allowed at PGI.
Last year, PGI was listed as one of the 17 trial sites for conducting the second and third phases of human clinical trials of Covishield, the vaccine developed by Oxford University.
The trials will be started by the Serum Institute of India during this month when the SII will seek approval from Drug Controller General of India for Covovax. The recombinant nanoparticle protein-based vaccine —NVXCoV2373 — developed by American biotechnology firm Novavax has been branded as Covovax in India. It will be the fourth Covid-19 vaccine to undergo clinical trials for children in India. The children will be followed up for six months after they are jabbed with two shots of Covovax after a gap of 21 days. The vaccine is expected to be launched by the year end.