Vaccine trials: Vital signs of volunteers normal

Pune, Aug 29: 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 II 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 Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), at Bharti Vidyapeeth's Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. The dose will be repeated after one month, an official said.

"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," the medical college and hospital's deputy medical director Dr Jitendra Oswal 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 will be repeated on both the volunteers after one month, the hospital's medical director Dr Sanjay Lalwani said on Wednesday.

He said in all, 25 candidates will be given the vaccine in the next seven days.

Dr Sonali Palkar, in-charge of the medical college's research cell, said four to five persons were screened on Wednesday and a decision to administer the vaccine to them as part of the clinical trial is subject to their COVID-19 and antibody test reports.

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.