Eleven of the 12 centres for Bharat Biotech’s vaccine — an anti-coronavirus vaccine that is being developed indigenously in the country — completed the first phase of human trials, India Today reported.

Except for All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), other centres have almost completed their first phase of human trials.

Initially, AIIMS Delhi was supposed to try the vaccine on 100 candidates, which it brought down to 16. The total candidate recruitment for the vaccine is 375 across 12 centres.

Sources of India Today told that the second trial will likely begin in the first week of September, after the submission of reports collected in the first human trials.

India Today reported that preliminary results of phase-1 clinical trials showed that Covaxin is safe for use.

Another centre in Maharashtra confirmed to India Today that the first trials conducted in Nagpur on 55 participants have been completed.

“After the first dosing, two patients reported some fever-related symptoms. However, they got better after a few hours of monitoring without any medical intervention,” said a source at the Nagpur centre.

The Nagpur centre has also given the second dose to seven candidates, two days ago. Thirteen more candidates were given the second dose of Covaxin on Thursday. The results have been given to Bharat Biotech for review.

Similarly, phase-1 trials of the Bharat Biotech vaccine at the Jeevan Rekha Hospital in Belgaum, Karnataka, have also been completed.

However, only four candidates were vaccinated in Belgaum. Phase-2 trial recruitment will begin in the first week of September. The findings were reported after monitoring the candidates for 28 days.

Meanwhile, India has reported 24 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus, with 17 lakh having recovered so far. The death toll stands at over 47,000. The recovery rate improved to 70.77 per cent in the country, according to the Health Ministry report.

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