Maha hosp starts phase II & III vaccine trials
THE HOSPITAL will be conducting trials on 100 volunteers and it has started screening volunteers for it. Volunteers will have to clear RT-PCR and antigen tests for Covid-19.
King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday started phase II and III trials of the Oxford Covishield vaccine. The civic hospital got the approval from the Maharashtra ethics committee for conducting trials on Tuesday.
The hospital will be conducting trials on 100 volunteers and it has started screening volunteers for it.
“We have received many calls. As we have decided to choose volunteers from Mumbai only, we have registered 375 callers. Out of
375 callers, we will select
100 as volunteers for the trial,” said Hemant Deshmukh, dean of the KEM hospital.
Volunteers will have to clear RT-PCR and antigen tests for Covid-19. Those who are found negative in both tests will be given the vaccine, the hospital informed.
“We will maintain the record of all patients and they will be guided by our team of doctors throughout the trials. We have given identification numbers to the registered callers and the hospital will identify them only by those numbers,” Deshmukh said adding that the hospital has not decided the number of male and female volunteers in advance and it all depends on the outcome of the screening process.
The selected volunteers will be given two doses of vaccine and after the second dose, the volunteers will be monitored for 180 days.
The results of the vaccine’s efficacy will be assessed at the end of 180days period.
Apart from the another civic-run
KEM, BYL
Nair hospital will also conduct a trials for vaccine. The Nair hospital is waiting for the approval from the Maharashtra ethics committee.
Trials for the Oxford vaccine candidates are being conducted in Pune, Maharashtra also.
The Pune based Serum institute of India has partnered with BritishSwedish pharma company AstraZeneca for manufacturing Covid-19 vaccine candidate, being developed by the University of Oxford, UK.