Kolkata, Nov 25 (IANS): West Bengal Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim is likely to participate in the Phase-3 trial of Covaxin Covid-19 vaccine candidate at the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), sources said.
Hakim, who is also the Chairperson of the board of administrators at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the state's largest civic body, has spoken to NICED Director Shanta Dutta.
Meanwhile, the first lot of the Covaxin trial volunteers arrived at NICED for the Phase-3 clinical trial on Wednesday. As many as 1,000 volunteers will take part in the study, sources said.
Covaxin has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Altogether 28,500 volunteers will participate in the third phase of its trial across India.