Final phase of clinical trials of Covid vaccine to start on Wed

Kolkata: The final phase of clinical trial of Bharat Biotech's Covid vaccine would begin at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) NICED in Kolkata on Wednesday where around 1,000 participants would be administered the vaccine in various phases.

The city's Mayor Firhad Hakim will visit the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) on Wednesday after he had expressed his desire to be a volunteer on whom the vaccine could be administered. NICED officials have not however confirmed if the trails would be performed on the Mayor on Wednesday. The NICED had earlier urged him to take part in the final phase of clinical trial as a volunteer. It was learnt that Hakim had earlier furnished some of his health related details to NICED. After going through the details the NICED has urged Hakim to visit there.

A press release issued by the ICMR NICED said that the regulatory trial has the aim to determine the protective efficacy of COVAXIN among the volunteers against COVID-19 infection. The final analysis of results will be available after one year follow up post 2nd dose of vaccination. It is the final phase of the vaccine.

The first and second phase trials have shown promising results. Bharat Biotech's Covid vaccine arrived in Kolkata on November 25 for the final round of clinical trials. The vaccine would be applied on around 25,800 people across the country in the final phase of clinical trials out of which 1,000 are from Kolkata.

Meanwhile, the State health department is also setting up infrastructure to conduct clinical trials of other Covid vaccines in the city.

The School of Tropical Medicine (STM) has already been declared as the centre of excellence by the state health department to conduct the clinical trials of Covid vaccine in December.

The trials would be conducted here by the state health department in collaboration with the ICMR. STM would conduct the trials of COVOVAX developed by Novavax, USA and also those which are developed by the Serum Institute of India. Steps have been taken to demarcate the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital where clinical trials of Russian vaccine, Sputnik V would be performed.