Kanpur initiates phase 3 trials of India’s first indigenous vaccine, COVAXIN after a thorough inspection of arrangements by the Bharat Biotech and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) officials, on Friday. The trials for the first batch of 15 volunteers will be set in motion after conducting their COVID-19 and blood tests at the Prakhar Hospital in Aryanagar today.
Kanpur becomes the hub of vaccine testing in India
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All formalities at Kanpur’s Prakhar Hospital have been cleared by the ICMR and Bharat Biotech, which are co-producing the first sawdeshi vaccine for coronavirus. This has paved the way to kickstart the third phase of testing, which is expected to furnish results by the end of three months. Under the able supervision of the Chief Guide, all arrangements and preparations for the testing procedure have been so set that a certain number of volunteers will be called daily to be inducted into the procedure.
A protocol has been established to test volunteer samples first and inject the vaccine only after the report is released. A test to check antibodies in these individuals will be conducted 28 days later. Besides this system, the trials will be authorised by software, which has been mapped with all the required information for seamless conduction.
A total of 500 vaccines and 500 plasma shots for these trials have arrived to Kanpur from Hyderabad which have been stored in deep freezers in order to maintain their efficacy; COVAXIN requires a temperature of 2-8 degree celsius to keep it active. The trials will gauge the formation of antibodies in individual volunteers in about 4 weeks, which will then define the vaccine potency.
Besides COVAXIN, the 2nd and 3rd phase of the Russian coronavirus vaccine, SPUTNIK V are also being conducted in Kanpur.
High Recovery Rate in Kanpur
At present, the city’s infection tally has crossed the 30,922 mark, second only to capital Lucknow which is the worst-hit city in Uttar Pradesh. With addition of 48 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the district’s active caseload now stands at 1,029 patients.
With a sky-high 94.1% recuperation rate, Kanpur has furnished 29,106 recoveries which happen to be the second-highest tally in the state. This is the reason why Kanpur has emerged as a testing centre for vaccine developers all across the globe.
