E-Paper
Results of Covavax phase two trial expected in 10 days: docs
PUNE The Covavax Covid-19 vaccine is currently in phase two of an ongoing trial to test is safety when administered to minors between the ages of 12-18 years
PUNE The Covavax Covid-19 vaccine is currently in phase two of an ongoing trial to test is safety when administered to minors between the ages of 12-18 years.
Dr Avinash Badvekar, principal investigator at KEM hospital and Research Centre in Vadu, where the trials are taking place, said, “A total of 17 minors have got the vaccine so far. A total of 100 minors will participate in phase two of the on-going safety trials. The data of the safety tests is being collected and will be declared by the sponsor in a week or 10 days. Meanwhile, we will administer the second dose to candidates three weeks after the first dose.”
The sponsor, in this case, is the Serum Institute of India.
Apart from the KEM Hospital and Research Centre in Vadu, the Bharati Vidyapeeth Hospital has also been selected as a site for the Covavax trials.
Covavax, also known as Novavax, is being developed by US firm, Novavax Inc. It will be mass produced by the Pune- based SII, mainly for the paediatric age group, i.e. below 18 years of age.
Earlier, Dr Badvekar had said that once the vaccine is found safe for this age group, the trial would move to a younger population in two more phases, 12-6 years and 6-2 years of age.
Dr Jitendra Oswal, deputy director of Bharati Vidyapeeth Hospital said, “We do not have any confirmed date on when phase three trials would begin. Once the safety results are out we will begin phase three. This should probably happen in the next 15 days, however, the final date will be declared in collaboration with the sponsor.”
The standard protocol for any new vaccine is to test it for safety (phase two) among a few hundred participants and then, phase three, which tests the vaccine for its efficacy against the said virus. The phase three trials are conducted among at least 1,000 volunteers.
