Odisha Youth Volunteers For Phase II/III Trial Of Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine

London/Bhubaneswar: University of Oxford researchers began recruiting human volunteers for the next-phase trials of a COVID-19 vaccine in May after immunizing 1,000 healthy adults in April.

It has enrolled up to 10,260 adults and children and involved a number of partner institutions across the country for its next study.

Among those who have volunteered for the test is a youth hailing from Odisha’s Sambalpur district, Ankan Nayak. He is working as a sales manager with an IT company in the UK for the last five years.

“After getting to know about it from a local newspaper, I thought of it as an opportunity to contribute to society and decided to register for the trial. I was then called for screening. They checked my medical history and conducted a blood test. After three days, he informed me that I was eligible for the trial and explained to me about the study and the side-effects of being inoculated with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine,” he told a local channel.

Nayak has been given an e-diary to jot down symptoms if any and asked to visit again after one, three and six months. “The study is progressing in a positive direction and hopefully, the effectiveness of the vaccine will be known by August-September,” he said.

If successful, it will be launched in October, he said, adding that Oxford University has now tied up with Serum Institute of India to manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine and a marketing pact is likely.

The phase II part of the study also includes a small number of older adults (aged 56-69 and over 70) and children (age between 5 to 12 years).

Speaking to media, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group Prof Andrew Pollard had said: “The clinical studies are progressing very well and we are now initiating studies to evaluate how well the vaccine induces immune responses in older adults and to test whether it can provide protection in the wider population. We are very grateful to the huge support of the trial volunteers in helping test whether this new vaccine could protect humans against the pandemic coronavirus.”