As per reports, the JJ hospital in Mumbai has started administering the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin by Bharat Biotech from this week onwards as a part of the phase III trials.
According to a report in Indian Express, till Tuesday, 27 people had received the second dose of the inactivated vaccine. Moreover, hospital authorities have stated they have to counsel people to return for the second dose as several people were reportedly excusing themselves, citing lack of time to travel to the hospital.
The Sion and JJ hospital in Mumbai is part of the 25 sites across the country that has been selected to immunise over 26,000 participants in the Phase III trials. Meanwhile, the hospitals have administered the first dose to 555 people so far.
Bharat Biotech has developed the inactivated vaccine in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Covaxin, the largest clinical trial that is being conducted for the coronavirus in India, has been registered with the clinical trials registry of India and approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
The SARS-CoV-2 strain was isolated at National Institute of Virology (Pune), an institute under the ICMR, and was transferred to Bharat Biotech. The company has a biosafety level-3 plant in the city of Hyderabad. These type of plants are conducive for work involving microbes, which could cause serious and potentially lethal diseases, through the inhalation route.
On the other hand, on Tuesday, Maharashtra recorded 3,018 fresh cases of the coronavirus taking the COVID-19 tally in the state to 19,25,066. Moreover, 5,572 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, taking the tally of recovered persons to 18,20,021.
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