COVID-19: KEM hospital begins phase II and III trials of Oxford Covishield vaccine

The King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday started phase II and III trials of the Oxford Covishield vaccine for COVID-19, an official said.

The Maharashtra ethics committee on Tuesday gave nod to the hospital to conduct the vaccine trials.

KEM Hospital Dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh said that the hospital has begun screening volunteers for the trials.

The hospital will be conducting the trials on 100 volunteers, he said.

Another civic-run B Y L Nair Hospital has also received approval for conducting trials of the vaccine.

Both hospitals will together conduct trials collectively on over 200 volunteers, sources said.

During the vaccine trials, if volunteers test COVID-19 negative in both RT-PCR and antigen tests will be given the vaccine, they said.

Trials of the Oxford vaccine candidate are being conducted in Pune also.

The Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has partnered with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca for manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, being developed by the University of Oxford, UK.