As many as nine volunteers participated in today’s trial, Venketesh Chaturvedi, chief administrative officer confirmed news agency PTI. “The trials began under the supervision of physician Dr Ajit Pratap Singh and gynecologist and obstetrician Dr Sona Ghosh,” Chaturvedi said. Those who took vaccine today were under strict observation. “All of them are absolutely fine,” he added.

On Monday, the clinical trial of India’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin began at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar. Several people took the dose of coronavirus vaccine in the hospital, said Dr E Venkat Rao, principal investigator of the trial process. The selected volunteers will be given two doses within a gap of 14 days, Rao said. “There was a lot of enthusiasm among people who offered themselves to be volunteers for the trial,” he added.

The first phase of human trial of Covaxin was completed at PGIMS Rohtak. The hospital started trial on July 17 and around 50 volunteers enrolled for this exercise. “50 people across India were administered the vaccine and the results were encouraging,” Dr Savita Verma, principal investigator of the vaccine trial team, told news agency ANI.

Volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55 with no co-morbidity conditions will participate in the first phase of trial. There are three formulations of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Each subject will be given any one of the formulation in two doses two weeks apart. The first 50 will get the lowest strength dose of the vaccine. If it is found to be safe in them, then it will be given to another 50 patients in high doses, Dr Sanjay Rai, professor at the centre for community medicine at AIIMS said, according to news agency PTI.

At least 375 people will participate in the first phases of clinical human trial of India’s first COVID-19 vaccine. More 3,500 volunteers have already enrolled for the trial. Twelve institutes were selected across the country for the initial round of trial.

Covaxin was developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited along with Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology. Bharat Biotech developed an “inactivated” vaccine at its high-containment facility at Genome Valley in Hyderabad. Apart from Uttar Pradesh, the vaccine trial have already begun in Hyderabad, Rohtak, Patna, Kancheepuram, Delhi, Goa and Bhubaneswar.