Coronavirus vaccine update July 31: Covaxin trials start in UP; thousands signing up for trials in US

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said the Southeast Asian country would be given priority by China if supplies of a vaccine became available

Moneycontrol News

August 01, 2020 / 07:28 AM IST

Human clinical trial of indigenously developed Covaxin, a possible vaccine against coronavirus, began at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

The trial began at Rana Hospital and Trauma Centre, which is among the 12 institutes selected for clinical trials of the vaccine.

"The trials began under the supervision of physician Dr Ajit Pratap Singh and gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Sona Ghosh. The vaccine has been administered to 9 volunteers so far," Venketesh Chaturvedi, Chief Administrative Officer of the hospital, told news agency PTI.

The hospital is already experienced in vaccine trials of typhoid and Japanese Encephalitis.

"We have started human clinical trials of Bharat Biotech's vaccine and soon the trial of Zydus Cadila vaccine will be started," Chaturvedi added.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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