As companies race to find an effective coronavirus vaccine, the Indian Council of Medical Research on Monday launched a dedicated vaccine and clinical registry portal that provides information on the covid-19 and other vaccines.

The portal, inaugurated by Harsh Vardhan, health and family welfare minister, is a repository of information on development of vaccines, ongoing clinical trials and will provide details of progress made in this area locally and globally at regular intervals.

While emphasising on the importance of elaborate and transparent information on the status of vaccine development, he said, “Today, in the times of Covid, vaccine development is watched very closely. Thus, it becomes important to showcase the status of vaccine development in the country.”

The website shows the details of animal trials which have been conducted through various coronavirus vaccines currently under development, genome sequences of the virus along with academic papers on India’s vaccine preparedness.

A paper on ‘revisiting regulatory framework in India for accelerated vaccine development in pandemics with an evidence-based fast-tracking strategy’ published in Indian Journal of Medical Research available on the website talks on various phases of the emergency use authorisation of a covid vaccine in India.

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The portal is expected to be updated as more data regarding various vaccines becomes available.

Vardhan also unveiled the history timeline of ICMR depicting its 108 year journey. “ICMR has always attempted to address itself to the growing demands of scientific advances in biomedical research on the one hand, and to the need of finding practical solutions to the health problems of the country, on the other.”

As of now three vaccine candidates are the frontrunners in India – Zydus Cadila, Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute for Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Serum Institute of India is conducting the India trials for the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca – Covishield.

The company has entered the phase three trials of the vaccine. It is among the three ongoing clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine in India. Zydus Cadila and Bharat Biotech have completed the recruitments for the phase two trial. Phase two human clinical trials for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D are ongoing according to information available on the vaccine portal.

India has used the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) to track information on vaccine supply chain and stocks across the country during the Covid19 pandemic. This was done to ensure smooth immunisation across the country. This system provides real-time information on stocks, storage temperatures across registered vaccine storage sites in India.

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