Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij who had offered to be the first volunteer in the phase three trials for Covaxin, a potential vaccine against Covid-19, will get the dose on Friday.
The 67-year old senior BJP leader said he will be administered the trial dose of the indigenous vaccine at the Civil Hospital at Ambala Cantt.
“I will be administered a trial dose of Coronavirus vaccine #Covaxin a Bharat Biotech product Tomorrow at 11 am at Civil hospital, Ambala Cantt under the expert supervision of a team of doctors from PGI Rohtak and Health Department,” Vij said in a tweet.
“I have volunteered to take the trial dose,” he added.
Vij, who is an MLA from Ambala Cantt, had on Wednesday said the third phase of trial of Covaxin will begin in the state on November 20 and had offered to be the first volunteer to get vaccinated. Covaxin is being developed indigenously by Bharat
Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Last month, the vaccine maker said it had successfully completed interim analysis of Phase 1 and 2 trials and is initiating Phase 3 trials.
Bharat Biotech had on Monday said the Phase 3 trial of Covaxin will involve 26,000 volunteers across 25 centres in India and is being conducted in partnership with the ICMR. It is the largest clinical trial conducted for a COVID-19 vaccine in India.
The human trial of Covaxin had begun at Rohtak’s Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in July, Vij had said earlier.
DECISION OF REOPENING OF GOVT SCHOOLS TO BE REVIEWED: KHATTAR
Due to rising Covid-19 cases among students after reopening of Government Schools for Classes IX- XII, the Haryana Chief Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said that the State Education department will review this decision.
He was interacting with the media persons in Karnal and was asked about the rising number of Covid-19 cases among school going students in the State.
More than 150 Haryana government school students have tested positive for Covid-19 in Jhajjar, Jind and Rewari districts since the educational institutions reopened after eight months for Classes 9 to 12 on November 2. The Chief Minister said that people are expressing two different types of opinions regarding reopening of government schools. The State Education department will review this decision, he added.
20 DEATHS, 2212 NEW CASES IN HARYANA
Haryana on Thursday reported 2212 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the tally in the State to 2,09,251, while 20 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 2113, according to the State Health department’s daily bulletin.
Of the 20 fatalities, four were from Hisar, three each Gurugram, Faridabad; two each from Rewari, Sirsa, Bhiwani and one each from Jind, Kurukshetra, Panchkula and Ambala. Among the districts which reported a huge spike in cases include Gurugram (645), Faridabad (489) and Hisar (1628), Sonepat (130) and Rewari (106). A total of 2156 patients were released from hospitals after recovery, taking total count to 1, 87, 559.
At present, there are 19,579 active cases in the State, fatality rate at 1.01 per cent, positivity rate at 6.82 per cent while the recovery rate is 89.63 per cent and doubling rate is 62 days.