The phase two trial of Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, has commenced in Chennai.
While confirming that the vaccine trials have begun in Chennai, officials of the Health Department refused to divulge any further details.
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The trial that is being carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, involves two institutions in the city -- Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research. A total of 300 volunteers would be involved in the trial, a press release issued earlier by the Health Department said.
The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine had called for volunteers for enrolment in the trial (phase two/three observer -- blind randomised, controlled study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of Covishield in healthy Indian adults). About 200 vials of the vaccine had arrived in the city during the first week of September.