INDIA’s COVID-19 VACCINE DEVELOPMENT

Director General Balram Bhargava of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has announced that Phase 2 clinical trials of two indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccines have been almost completed. India has two indigenous vaccine candidates—ZyCOV-D by Zydus Cadila and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech. He said that while final trials normally take from six to nine months, an emergency authorization could be considered in the case of these
two vaccines, taking the current chaotic pandemic situation into account.

Zydus Cadila has chosen 17 sites in India to conduct the trial on 1,600 volunteers. According to the study design, each participant will receive the first dose on day one and second dose on day 29, a gap of four weeks. Meanwhile, Serum Institute of India, which has partnered with British company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford to manufacture their vaccine for India and other low and middle income countries, is ready to begin Phase 2 trial of the vaccine in India.

Ref: Livemint.com, August 20, 2020,