Jeevan Rekha Hospital here happens to be the only hospital in the state to have been chosen for undertaking a clinical trial of the vaccine that could perhaps be effective against coronavirus infection. The trials have begun with the vaccine having been used on four persons who voluntarily registered their names.
In the first phase, trials have begun with two women and two men aged between 18 and 55, with the vaccine having been injected on July 31. hospital director Dr Amit Bhate said that the health condition of all of them is stable.
The vaccine, ‘Covaxin’ has been developed by Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad based company in association with Indian Medical Research Council. The first dose of the vaccine has now been administered.
The doses were given after confirming that the people concerned tested negative for the infection and their blood and other tests were normal. The models were sent to the laboratory at New Delhi and their reports were obtained. The second dose is proposed to be administered after 14 days. Antibody tests will be conducted after 28 days. The second phase of the clinical trial will begin 20 days later, he stated.