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Covid-19 vaccine trial begins at Mumbai hospital today

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The first dose of Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca will on Saturday be administered to three volunteers at the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Mumbai while 10 more volunteers have been selected for the clinical trial.

Another Mumbai hospital BYL Nair will commence the process of clinical trials from Monday.

Volunteers given the vaccine dose at the KEM hospital will be checked regularly and within 29 days a second dose will be given to them.


All three volunteers who will get the shot today have been screened to rule out any underlying health issues, KEM Hospital officials said. They also underwent RT-PCR and antibody testing. “The three participants have been screened after their consent and they don’t have any comorbidity. As per randomisation, out of every four participants, one will receive placebo (false drug),” said Dr Hemant Deshmukh, Dean, KEM Hospital.

According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, each of the volunteers has been covered with Rs 1crore life insurance in case of death due to any side effects during the trial. They have also been covered under Rs 50lakh medical insurance if they develop any adverse effect from the vaccine.

“We will administer the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to the three volunteers on Saturday” Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. He added that 10 more people will be screened on Saturday which will take the number of volunteers to 23. “We will check how they respond after the inoculation and test them for antibodies,” he said.

After the volunteers are given the shot, they will have to stay at the hospital for two hours to check if they are having any complications,

The vaccine induces a strong immune response. It provokes a T cell (white blood cells that can attack cells infected with the coronavirus) response within 14 days of the dose, and an antibody response within 28 days.


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