Govt permits icddr,b to run Phase-III trial of Chinese Covid-19 vaccine

The government has permitted icddr,b to run the Phase-III trial of the Chinese vaccine for Covid-19.

Health minister Zahid Maleque said this today while talking to journalists at the conference room of the ministry in the Secretariat.

Earlier, the minister held a meeting with the icddr,b officials, source said.

International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), and the inventor Chinese company -- Sinovac Research and Development Limited -- will jointly conduct the trial.

According to the US Centre for Disease Control (US-CDC), the general stages of the development cycle of a vaccine are: exploratory stage, pre-clinical stage, clinical development, regulatory review and approval, manufacturing and quality control.

Phase-III clinical trial means the vaccine is at its final stage of major trials in which the vaccine is given to thousands of people and tested for efficacy and safety.

The hospitals where the trial will be conducted are: Mugda General Hospital, two units (unit 1 and 2) of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital, Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital and Mohanagar General Hospital.

"The vaccine will be administered to the healthcare staffers who are not infected with Covid-19 as they are exposed to the disease. It will be examined whether and how much antibodies against Covid-19 grow in their bodies," Director of Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) Mahmood-uz-jahan told this newspaper on July 19.