India's first COVID-19 vaccine to be made available for public most likely by August 15

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) expects to launch Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN by August 15. ICMR has selected 12 institutes for the clinical trial, according to an official.In a letter to the selected institutes, ICMR has said that it expects to launch the vaccine candidate for public health use by August 15, after completion of the clinical trials. The institutes have also been asked by ICMR to fast track the trials and to consider it as one of the top priority projects monitored by the topmost government authorities.

"The vaccine is derived from a strain of SARS-CoV-2 isolated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. ICMR and BBIL are jointly working for the pre-clinical as well as clinical development of this vaccine," stated the ICMR in its letter to the institutes.The launch will depend on the cooperation of all clinical trial sites involved in this project. 

ICMR asked the institutes to ensure that all the subjects are enrolled starting this week and to speed up approvals. "Non-compliance will be viewed very seriously. Therefore, you are advised to treat this project on highest priority and meet the given timelines without any lapse," said ICMR in its letter.  Institutes from New Delhi, Hyderabad, Patna, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur, Gorakhpur, Rohtak, Belgaum (Karnataka), Kattankulathur (Tamil Nadu), Arya Nagar, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Goa have been enlisted by ICMR.  India reported the highest ever single-day spike of 20,903 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours on Friday, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.  The Indian Council of Medical Research on Friday said that the total number of samples tested till July 2 is 92,97,749 of which 2,41,576 samples were tested on Thursday.