Latest Covid-19 vaccine development: Covishield undergoes phase 3 trial, BMC selects 43 volunteers

As the world races to develop a potential vaccine against coronavirus (Covid-19), the Union health ministry has launched an online portal about Covid-19 with all the latest information on the coronavirus disease.

Health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday said the web portal will have data on research development, clinical trials on potential Covid-19 vaccine in India, its launch date and other information.

He also said that the first vaccine in India will most likely be available by early 2021.

Dr Vardhan also said that there are at least three vaccine candidates that are under different phases of clinical trials.

With a spike of 82,170 new coronavirus cases in last 24 hours, India’s Covid-19 tally crossed the 60-lakh mark on Monday, according to the data provided by health ministry.

Here are all the latest updates on Covid-19 vaccine:

• India is currently witnessing different phases of clinical trials of three Covid-19 vaccines. Covishield, the vaccine being developed by Oxford University, is undergoing phase 3 clinical trials. The trials began on Monday at the state-run Sassoon General Hospital in Pune. The vaccine will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII). India’s indigenous vaccine developers Bharat Biotech International is at the second-phase human trial stage and Zydus Cadila is in the process to receive approvals for conducting third-phase clinical trials.

• The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has selected 43 volunteers so far for the clinical trial of Covid-19 vaccine produced by the Oxford University. Of these, 12 have already received the first dosage of the drug.

• Monoclonal antibodies that stop the coronavirus from spreading in the body are among promising strategies for averting severe illness from Covid-19 before vaccines arrive, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

• China is injecting thousands of its people with Covid-19 vaccine shots, which are still under trial and hence their efficacy unproven, reports said. Those who are getting these vaccine shots are also made to sign a “nondisclosure agreement”, according to which they can’t talk about it to the news media.

• In anticipation of a possible vaccine for Covid-19, Gurugram health department will be conducting a thorough assessment of the available ‘cold chain’ infrastructure in the coming weeks, officials confirmed.