Locally produced vaccines, Bharat BioTech’s Covaxin and Zydus Cadila’s ZyCOV-D, which started clinical trials in the month of July were fast-tracked and are now in the middle of mid-scale trials. Private vaccine maker, Serum Institute of India is also overseeing simultaneous phase II/III trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which started this week.
Bhargava, while admitting that under normal circumstances, vaccine trials could take anywhere between 6-9 months to complete said that if the authorities allow for it, vaccines could be used for emergency use.
