No COVID-19 vaccine possible before 2021, officials tell parliamentary panel

New Delhi, July 10: No vaccine for coronavirus will be ready before next year, officials told the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology on Friday.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Climate Change headed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh met for the first time today since the lockdown due to COVID-19 was enforced on March 25.

Union Health Ministry officials on Thursday clarified that the intent of the ICMR Director General's letter envisaging the launch of COVID-19 vaccine by August 15 was "only to expedite duly approved clinical trials without compromising on safety and security concerns".

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has permitted two vaccines -- one developed by the Bharat Biotech International Limited in collaboration with ICMR and another by Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltd --to go in for phase 1 and 2 human clinical trials, said Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty in the health ministry.

The sites for phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials have been finalised and the trials are yet to begin, he said during a press briefing.

The 12 institutes selected for the clinical trial are located in Visakhapatnam, Rohtak, New Delhi, Patna, Belgaum (Karnataka), Nagpur, Gorakhpur, Kattankulathur (Tamil Nadu), Hyderabad, Arya Nagar, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Goa, and Bhubaneswar-based Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital.