Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij gets first dose in Covaxin vaccine's phase 3 trial

In a big development in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Friday was administered the first trial dose of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin at Civil Hospital in Ambala Cantt. Vij is the first trial participant for the Phase 3 trial which began in the state on Friday. The 67-year old senior BJP leader was given the trial dose under the expert supervision of a team of doctors from PGI Rohtak and the Health Department. 

Taking to Twitter, the Haryana Health Minister on Thursday announced that he has volunteered to take the trial dose of Covaxin. He further informed that he will be administered the trial dose of indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine on Friday at around 11 am. 

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Anil Vij urges people to participate in Covaxin trials 

While responding to the questions about him volunteering for the third phase of a vaccine trial, Vij said, "I appeal the people to not hesitate from volunteering for the vaccine trial. More and more people should come forward."

Urging people to participate in the final phase trials, the BJP leader informed that 25,800 people will be administered with the trial dose. Vij said, 'I, myself have stepped forward to take the first dose of the vaccine. I am not afraid of volunteering. In fact, I want more people to come forward so that the trials can be completed as soon as possible and the vaccine can be made available in the market soon.'

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Bharat Biotech's Covaxin 

Covaxin is a COVID-19 vaccine that is being developed indigenously by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The early two trials of this vaccine were successfully completed. Bharat Biotech on Monday announced that the Phase 3 trial of Covaxin would involve 26,000 volunteers across 25 centres in India. The company earlier had announced that the volunteers who wish to participate in the trials should be adults over 18 years of age.

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India's COVID-19 statistics 

As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, India so far has recorded over 9.05 lakh positive cases, out of which 83,35,109 have successfully recovered while 1,30,993 have died. As per the latest updates from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 38,617 new cases, 474 deaths and 44,739 fresh recoveries have been reported. Currently, the total number of active Coronavirus cases in the country is 4,46,805. 

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Friday informed that until November 19, 12,95,91,786 samples have been tested for Coronavirus. It further informed that on November 19, 10,83,397 samples were tested. 

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