Phase III trials of Oxford vaccine likely to begin on August 22 in India

New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: The Phase III trials of the Oxford University-Astra Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine will likely begin in India on August 22, India Today reported, citing sources, adding that about a hundred people will be vaccinated on the first day.

The development comes two days after The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday announced that phase III trials of the much-awaited Oxford vaccine will begin this week itself.

The trials will begin at 20 centres in India, predominantly in the cities of Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmedabad, and the vaccine will be administered to 1600 people, the Parliamentary standing committee on home affairs has been informed.

Earlier this month, India's drug controller gave its approval to Pune-based vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII) for conducting phase II and III clinical trials on Covidshield. Serum Institute is one of the nine global manufacturers of this vaccine.

The report further quoted sources as saying that the Oxford University vaccine candidate -- Covishield -- will likely be the first one to move into production in India.

"Some 20 different sites and hospitals across the country have been chosen, covering five different regions that are Covid-19 hotspots. We seek to conduct trials across 11-12 hospitals in partnership with ICMR," said a spokesperson of the Serum Institute.

Earlier this month, Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla on Monday had said India should have a vaccine against the novel coronavirus by the end of 2020, as per CNBC-TV18. Poonawalla further said that the fixed pricing of the vaccine will be announced in two months.

Last month, the researchers in Oxford had announced that their candidate ‘ChAdOx1’ had triggered an immune response in humans against coronavirus in the early stages. The vaccine is currently in Phase III trials in Brazil.