NEW DELHI: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on Monday started the screening for clinical trials of Covaxin, India’s indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine, in children.
Nearly 20 to 30 teens aged between 12 and 18 years participated in it.
They underwent tests to rule out Covid-19 and presence of antibodies against the virus.
Also, the parents of these kids who were accompanying them were asked to sign a consent form for participation of their wards in the trials, Dr Sanjay Rai, in-charge of the vaccine trial at AIIMS told TOI.
“We will administer the first dose of Covaxin to children who clear the screening on Tuesday itself,” he added.
India has approved three vaccines for immunisation of adults aged 18 years and above against Covid-19: Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik.
However, there are no vaccines approved for use in children at present.
US and UK have approved the Pfizer vaccine for use in children who are above 12 years old.
Bharat Biotech, the company that is manufacturing Covaxin, was given approval by the drug regulatory body for clinical trials of their vaccine on May 12 following which phase II/III trials were started at multiple centers including AIIMS Delhi.
“The trial will involve more than 500 children aged between 2-18 years.
It will be divided in three phases: the first phase will involve the older children aged between 12-18 years followed by 6-12 years and 2-6 years,” Dr Rai said.
“Mass immunisation against Covid-19 is the only solution to end this pandemic.
Eventually, everyone will have to get the vaccine to safeguard from the infection,” one of the participants (identity withheld), said.
AIIMS had also conducted phase I, II and III trials of Covaxin in adults.
The hospital doctors said they had received 4,000 requests for participation when the requirement was for only about 100 adults.
“This time, we didn’t advertise much for participation but there are enough requests already from parents keen to get their children vaccinated as a part of the trial,” said one of the doctors.
He added that the clinical trials of the vaccine for children may take around six to nine months to complete.
The clinical trials are significant given the apprehension of an impending third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic which, many experts say, may affect the children more.
There is no evidence to support the claim though.