This story is from August 5, 2020

Covaxin trials: With 55 volunteers given dose, city ranks 2nd in India

Covaxin trials: With 55 volunteers given dose, city ranks 2nd in India
Nagpur: The first part of the first phase of the human trial of the made-in-India Covaxin was completed in India on August 4 with 375 volunteers across the country receiving the first dose of the vaccine. Out of these, 55 were from Nagpur city. It means that after PGI Rohtak, where 81 volunteers were administered this vaccine, Nagpur stood second in the country.
All the 55 volunteers are residents of various parts of Nagpur and none of them had any complications after being administered the first dose.
All will report on their respective 14th day of trials and will be administered the second dose.
“We had more than 100 participants interested to be a part of this trial. Out of them, 60 were shortlisted after the initial check-ups and their blood samples were sent for the critical screening. Remarkably, 55 of them were found eligible for the trials. We have successfully administered the first dose of 0.3ml vaccine to all of them between July 27 and August 4,” said Dr Chandrashekhar Gillurkar, director of Dr Gillurkar Hospital and Research institute, one of the 12 trial sites for this vaccine in India.
Dr Gillurkar specially mentioned that more than 100 residents from Nagpur approached him to be a part of the test and most of them mentioned that they came to know about it through TOI.
“Thanks to the well-informed news in TOI, we received a very good response. But not everyone can be a part of this trial. The participating criteria is strict. I hope we will have more participants in the second phase which has a sample size of 750,” he said.
Interestingly, two Nagpurians were rejected during the final screening as they already had antibodies developed in their blood. This means they were already infected but cured on the basis of their own immunity. Two of them were having diabetes, but were unaware while one was having hepatitis.

Nagpur’s Dr Gillurkar Hospital is one of the 12 trial sites in country and only one in Nagpur was selected for the Covaxin trials. After administering the first dose to 55 people, Dr Gillurkar was quite optimistic about the results.
“We are constantly following up with the participants and all of them are doing well. None of them had any sort of complaint till date. This is a good sign. The first participant will report at our centre on August 11 and samples will be collected for testing the same day. After the initial tests, the second dose will be administered,” he said.
COVAXIN SHOWS POSITIVE SIGNS
* Three volunteers administered first dose on July 27
* Four more got the dose of 0.3ml on July 28
* 48 others got the dose subsequently up to August 4
* Nagpur second highest in country when it comes to number of participants
* Second dose will be administered from August 11 onwards
* Second phase of trials expected in last week of August
* Results of first part of first phase expected by August 15
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About the Author
Chaitanya Deshpande

Chaitanya Deshpande is Principal Correspondent at The Times of India, Nagpur. He has a PG degree in English literature and Mass communication. Chaitanya covers public health, medical issues, medical education, research in the fields of medicine, microbiology, biotechnology. He also covers culture, fine arts, theatre, folk arts, literature, and life. Proficient in Marathi and Hindi along with English, Chaitanya loves music, theatre and literature of all three languages.

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