“COVIDSHIELD”: Production of Oxford CORONAVIRUS vaccine has begun in India!
These days a person all a person is hearing is Coronavirus. Be it the time when one wakes up or even goes to sleep, it is all just about the horrifying condition going around. In this time of dark, all one looks forward is for a ray of hope. The cure to the virus is the only ray of hope one wants to step on. So in the middle of all the pessimism here comes optimistic news of the production of the Oxford Coronavirus vaccine that is named Covidshield has begun in India. This is said to be one of the frontrunner COVID 19 vaccines in the world.
An initial estimation has been made that says that a minimum of 1 billion doses will be developed in the country. This huge step will make the nation achieve the title of the largest producer of the COVID 19 vaccine on the earth. The latest developments claim that the manufacturing of the Oxford-Astrazeneca joint-collaboration vaccine is being done on a large scale in Serum Institute of India located in Pune, Maharashtra. The beginning of the early production of the vaccine is being done so that to fulfill the commercial requirements for Phase III of the clinical trials of the vaccine.
The results of the Oxford vaccine showed that there is an acceptable safety profile and the vaccine is also capable of producing an increased antibody as a response to fight against the deadly virus. This result was published in The Lancet earlier this week. The vaccine has also shown its ability to induce a marked increase in the effectiveness of T-cell responses. T-cell responses are an attribute that can make sure longer-term immunity. The vaccine does possess an official name, which is the chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) or simply the Covidshield.
We hope to manufacture two to three million doses by end of August, pending certain licensing and approvals from the government.https://t.co/mMSoYf99DE#SII #Covid_19 #vaccine #coronavirus
— SerumInstituteIndia (@SerumInstIndia) July 23, 2020
Mr. Suresh Jadhav who is the Executive Director of the Serum Institute of India said that the company possesses an intention to develop two to three million i.e. twenty to thirty lakh doses of the vaccine by the end of August month this year. Dr. Cyrus Poonnawalla who is the Chairman of the Poonawalla group(and this includes the Serum Institue of India) said that the target is to produce at least thirty crore or three hundred million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year 2020. {Source: The Hindu}
The Chief Executive Director of Serum Institute of India and the son of Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla, Mr. Adar Poonawalla said that the company is trying to keep the cost of the vaccine less than thousand rupees so that it could be affordable for everyone. He also threw light on this intention to make this vaccine available in seventy other low and middle-income countries. {Source: The Times of India}
Such pure and help-giving intentions of Mr. Adar is making it believable that vaccine production is going in the right direction.
Clinical Trials of the COVIDSHIELD!!
The clinical trial of Phase I of the vaccine is complete and by good grace, it has shown favorable and promising results. Phase II and Phase III trials of the vaccine are presently undergoing in Austria. It is estimated that if the developments continue at this rate the final vaccine can be expected to be completely ready by the December month of this year.
Congratulations to the teams at @UniofOxford and @AstraZeneca for getting this product data, out. It all seems to be doing well. Hope to get positive results in the phase three trials in a few months. We also hope to start phase three trials in India soon. #COVID19vaccine https://t.co/Zroalob7mO
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) July 21, 2020
Serum Institute is in the middle of the process for applying for the license the commence the clinical trials in India also, revealed Dr. Cyrus. Once the DCGI i.e. Drug Control General of India grants the necessary permission s to the company, it will start Pase III trials in Maharashtra by the August month of this year.
The two hotspots, Pune with more than 59 thousand confirmed cases and Mumbai with around 1.03 lakh confirmed cases have been shortlisted for the clinical trials. Trial sites have been developed across these 2 cities and by the late August month, four thousand to five thousand people will be injected with the vaccine to assess its efficiency on the population of India. The trials are scheduled to last over 2 good months.
