Vital health parameters of the two volunteers who have been administered the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate at a medical college here as part of the phase 2 clinical trial, are normal, a senior official from the medical facility said on Thursday.
Two men, aged 32 and 48, were given the first shot of the ‘Covishield’ vaccine, being manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), at Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. The dose will be repeated after one month, an official said.
‘In touch with duo’
“Since yesterday, our medical team is in touch with the two volunteers and both are fine. They do not have any pain, fever, injection side reaction or systemic illness post-vaccination,” Jitendra Oswal, the medical college and hospital’s deputy medical director, said.
After the vaccine was administered on Wednesday, both the volunteers were observed for 30 minutes and later allowed to go home, he said.
“They have been given all the necessary emergency numbers [to contact in case of need] and our medical team is also conducting follow-ups with them,” he added.
The vaccine dose would be repeated on both the volunteers after one month, the hospital’s medical director, Sanjay Lalwani, said on Wednesday.
More candidates
He said 25 candidates would be given the vaccine in the next seven days. Sonali Palkar, in charge of the medical college’s research cell, said four or five persons were screened on Wednesday and a decision to administer the vaccine to them as part of the clinical trial was subject to their COVID-19 and antibody test reports.
The SII, the world’s largest vaccine maker, has signed an agreement to manufacture the potential vaccine developed by the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, in collaboration with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca.
