India starts Phase II trials of Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine

India today began Phase II clinical trials of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine as two male volunteers were administered the injection at a hospital in the western city of Pune.

"Doctors at the hospital administered the first shot of 'Covishield' vaccine to a 32-year-old man after his reports of Covid-19 and antibody tests came out negative," Medical Director of Bharti Vidyapeeth's Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Sanjay Lalwani said according to New Delhi correspondent.

Another 48-year-old male volunteer was also given the vaccine, he added.

While the 32-year-old volunteer works for a private company, the other one is associated with the healthcare sector, he said.

"Before administering the vaccine, doctors checked their temperature, blood pressure and heart beats," he said.

Five volunteers had enrolled themselves for the trial after the doses were received from the SII on Tuesday, he added.

"The Covid-19 and antibodies tests were conducted on all five volunteers. Of them, the reports of three volunteers' antibody tests came out positive. So, they became ineligible for the trial," Lalwani said.

"The two other volunteers, who were administered the vaccines are being monitored," he said.

According to Lalwani, a total of 25 volunteers will be given the vaccine in the next seven days, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The vaccine is being manufactured by Pune's Serum Institute of India (SII), a senior office-bearer of the hospital said.

SII, the world's largest vaccine-maker, has signed an agreement to manufacture the potential vaccine developed by the Jenner Institute of Oxford University in collaboration with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca.

The second phase trial of the vaccine began on a day when India's novel coronavirus tally rose to 32.34 lakh with 67,151 more people testing positive for the infection in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.

The death toll from the pathogen climbed to 59,449 with 1,059 more fatalities in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Russia has expressed keenness for collaboration with India for manufacturing its Covid-19 vaccine 'Sputnik V' and conducting its phase 3 clinical trial in this country, official sources said.

According to the sources, the issue came up for discussion in the national expert group on vaccine administration for in its last meeting held on August 22.

Sputnik V has been developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology along with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) but the vaccine has not been tested in phase 3 or larger clinical trials. Besides, there has been scepticism in some quarters about the limited data related to the efficacy of the Russian vaccine.