West Bengal Guv Jagdeep Dhankhar inaugurates phase 3 trial of Covaxin in Kolkata

Dhankhar inaugurated the vaccine trial at Kolkata's National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Disease (NICED) here at 11 am.

A total of 1,000 people will participate in the third phase of the vaccine trial of Covaxin developed by Indian biotechnology company Bharat Biotech.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC)'s chairman of board of administrators and West Bengal Minister, Firhad Hakim, will be taking the first dose of Covaxin, media reports said.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stressed on vaccines for all, India's Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday said the government never spoke about vaccination for the entire country.

"I just want to make this clear that the government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country. It's important that we discuss such scientific issues, based on factual information only," the Health Secretary replied when asked how much time it would take to vaccinate the entire country during a press briefing in the national capital.

"If we're able to vaccinate a critical mass of people and break the virus transmission, then we may not have to vaccinate the entire population," added Dr Balram Bhargava, Indian Council of Medical Research Director-General, who was present.