New Delhi: AIIMS is currently conducting Phase-III clinical trials of the indigenously developed 'Covaxin' COVID-19 vaccine candidate by Bharat Biotech. Dr Adarsh Pratap Singh, President of the AIIMS RDA said that volunteers for this phase of the trials include healthcare workers and members of the general public.
The clinical phase-III trials for 'Covaxin' are happening at 22 centres across the country, including AIIMS. Currently, AIIMS is facing a shortage of volunteers and wants at least 1,000 more volunteers. More than 500 volunteers have been administered the vaccine (or the control) till now. This trial has been going on since about a week at AIIMS.
"One has to go to the pulmonary department in the old OPD block, there is a room where hospital staff will check all your vitals — blood pressure, pulse rate etc., and give you information about the process and details of the vaccine, its adverse effects, how the hospital will follow up with you and such. They will also do a blood test and RT-PCR testing for COVID-19. It is a randomised control trial, so while some volunteers will be injected with the vaccine, others will be given saline. After a few months, we will follow up and see how many people have been infected with COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine (to test the efficiency), and how many got infected after being injected with saline (as a control)", Dr Singh said.
Kanishk Yadav, a nursing officer at AIIMS, who volunteered for the trial, said, "I was the 379th volunteer on the day I went (December 28). When I went to volunteer, I was asked to fill a form (personnel details), my vitals were checked (blood pressure, height, weight, etc.), some documents and IDs were verified (such as AADHAR card, date of birth, driving license, voter ID). My samples were taken for a blood test (to check for antibodies if the person has been infected with COVID-19 before) and RT-PCR test. Then, I was taken for counselling where I was told of the side-effects of the vaccine and what results had been observed during the first two phases of the trial.
I was told to monitor my health on a chart for the next seven days, symptoms such as cold, cough, fever, difficulty in breathing, etc. After being given the injection, I was told to report again for another injection 28 days later.
Then, I was given a juice and asked to sit under observation for half an hour to check for any immediate side-effects such as anaphylactic shock, and then let go".