The world is desperately waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine. Several countries have already kickstarted human trials for the vaccine, which isn’t expected to arrive before the end of 2020. However, India is aiming to launch its first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by August 15th of this year.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is working in partnership with Bharat Biotech International (BBIL) to develop this vaccine. ICMR has already written to select medical colleges and hospitals where fast-track clinical trials for the vaccine will take place.
The 12 institutes that have been selected for the clinical trial are located in New Delhi, Rohtak, Patna, Belgaum, Nagpur, Gorakhpur, Visakhapatnam, Kattankulathur, Hyderabad, Arya Nagar, Kanpur, Goa, and Bhubaneswar.
The COVID-19 vaccine will be developed and manufactured in BBIL’s facility located in Genome Valley in Hyderabad. Covaxin is the first Indian candidate to receive the Drug Controller General of India’s approval for entering the human trial phase.
Until now, only two indigenous manufacturers have received the green signal to develop the potential COVID-19 vaccine in India. The other potential coronavirus vaccine under development belongs to Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila Healthcare.
ICMR’s COVID-19 vaccine has raised concerns among health experts as all of this is being done at the risk of rushing trials and approvals. Usually, developing a vaccine takes a lot of time as there are several phases involved in it. Given the public health emergency and the fact that India stands fourth in the number of Coronavirus cases across the world, the country is rushing to release drugs as soon as it can.
