Covid | ‘Oxford vaccine’s late stage trials to start in a week in India’: ICMR

At present the country has three Indian COVID-19 vaccines which are in different phases of clinical testing, said Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Dr Balram Bhargava on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference in the national capital, he said, “At the present moment, we have three Indian vaccines which are in different phases of clinical testing. The 2 vaccines- Bharat Biotech vaccine and DNA vaccine of Zydus Cadila have completed phase 1 and will begin phase 2 while third is Oxford vaccine.” “Oxford vaccine, being manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII), got approval for phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, which are starting within a week at 17 sites,” he added. Dr Bhargava, however, said that social distancing and proper hygiene are the best “vaccine” available now and even after. “Physical distancing, wearing a mask, proper hand hygiene are the best vaccines available at the moment and even after. We will have to continue with these measures,” he said. India has so far recorded over 18 lakh cases and more than 38,900 deaths.