First five volunteers have been recruited for the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine bridging study and the trials will continue for the next few days, SK Raut, Director of Pune-based Noble Hospital and Head of the Clinical Department, told BusinessLine .

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has partnered with Serum Institute of India (SII) to conduct Phase-II and -III bridging trials for Covovax, the vaccine from the US company Novavax. Noble Hospital is one of the trial sites and the volunteers have been given their first short. Novavax had initiated its late-phase trials in South Africa and in UK. SII had received the bulk vaccine and Matrix-M adjuvant from Novavax.

“We selected volunteers as per the norms and gave them the first shot. The gap between the two shots is 21 days and we are monitoring volunteers who participated in the trial. The hospital has completed all the procedure to start trials,” said Raut. He said the vaccine was safe and there were no side-effects.

“Three volunteers were given shots on Thursday and two on Friday. We would continue with the exercise,” said Raut.

The trial will enroll 1,600 people. The development comes evens as some multinationals seek a waiver on such trials during a pandemic.

This is the second Covid-19 vaccine that SII is bringing to India, the first being AstraZeneca-Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine that is presently being rolled out in the country and many others.

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