Sion Hospital to Start Human Trials for Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 Vaccine

Mumbai’s Sion Hospital, which is run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will soon start human trials for a new COVID-19 vaccine next week. The vaccine is being developed by Hyderabad’s Bharat Biotech. 

The hospital will also post newspapers advertisements to have candidates reach out for the trial. It is said that around 1,000 volunteers are currently required for this phase of the trial. 

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This officially makes Sion Hospital the first institution in Mumbai to conduct trials for an Indian COVID-19 vaccine. The hospital has said that it will only open 5% of the trial capacity for its staff while 20 per cent of the pool will be reserved for people with controlled comorbidities.

It’s worth pointing out that KEM and Nair hospitals in Mumbai are conducting trials for a vaccine developed jointly by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute since September. This particular vaccine will be produced in India by Pune’s Serum Institute of India (SII) under the “Covishield” moniker. 

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Officials from Sion Hospital said that they are currently waiting for an Ethics Committee approval on the insurance value for the volunteers participating in the trial. Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Dean at Sion Hospital, Dr Mohan Joshi said that the human trials are being performed in conjunction with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). 

“We will also study if it produces good anti-bodies and will study the diminishing pattern of antibodies,” Joshi added.

As for the trials conducted at Nair and KEM hospitals with the AstraZeneca vaccine, officials have said that all participants of the trials were given 0.5 millilitres (ml) of vaccine and 0.5 ml of booster dose precisely 29 days later. Deans from both hospitals said that no side effects have been witnessed in any of the volunteers so far.

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