Human Trial Of COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Covaxin’ Begins In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The human trial of the India’s first possible COVID vaccine ‘Covaxin’ has began at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital here on Monday.

The first Indian vaccine ‘Covaxin’ developed by Bharat Biotech, was administered to selected volunteers, said Dr. E. Venkat Rao, Principal Investigator of the trial process.

Dr Rao also said that many people voluntarily came  for the trial with much enthusiasm but only some people were selected.

The volunteers went under a through screening procedure and several test. Later, they were given a go ahead clearance to go through the trial only after they were declared clean.

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has chosen 12 medical institutes in the country. IMS and SUM Hospital is the only such institute from Odisha which has been selected for the human trial.

Those who are interested to volunteer for the project may contact the institutes by registering themselves online at ptctu.soa.ac.in.

The volunteers need to be disease free and they have to go through a simple questionnaire available at the same website.