Covovax phase III trials in School of Tropical Medicine
Kolkata: The School of Tropical Medicine (STM) is one among the 18 institutions in the country to conduct the phase-III clinical trials of Covovax from the middle of this month.
Sources in the state Health department said clinical trials of Covovax would be carried out on 100 volunteers in the initial phase. The STM authorities are making all the arrangements to perform the trials.
The state Health department has already given clearance to the STM authorities in this regard. Covovax has been prepared by the Serum Institute. It has already submitted a sample of vaccine to the Central drug control seeking clearance.
The STM may float notification to welcome volunteers, who would be interested in the participation of trial runs. "Those who have not yet received vaccine shots or those who have not taken part in the clinical trials of vaccination may apply for the clinical trials of Covovax. Around 100 people would be receiving the shots in the first phase," a senior official of the Health department said.
The phase III clinical trials have been conducted for Covishield and Covaxin in the state. State government has already started administering Covishield. Application of Covaxin began on Wednesday. According to sources, clinical trials of Russian vaccine Sputnik V was started by a private hospital in the city. Five more institutions will take part in the trials of Sputnik V.
"Covovax was 89.3 per cent effective in preventing Covid in a trial conducted in the United Kingdom. It is another version of Novovax, which also proved to be effective in providing protection against the highly-contagious UK-variant of Coronavirus," said a senior health official.
Over three lakh people in the state have been vaccinated so far. The state Health department has already set a target of setting up more vaccination sites. The Health department has a plan to open around 1000 vaccination sites so that the maximum number of health workers can be vaccinated per day.
The state government has also started vaccinating front line workers other than the health workers from Tuesday.
