Clinical trial of the Covishield vaccine began at the JSS Hospital in Mysuru, an official said on Sunday.
The vaccine has been developed by the University of Oxford.
The official said that the clinical trial of Covishield began on Saturday at JSS Hospital, which is the only institute in Karnataka to have been selected by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for verifying its effect and efficacy on a coronavirus patient.
Similar trials are underway at 16 other institutes across the country.
The 1,800-bed Jagadguru Sri Shivarathri (JSS) Hospital is run by the Suttur Mutt at Suttur village on the banks of the Kabini river in Nanjungud.
Once the trials in three phases are completed and submitted for validation, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India will produce the vaccine candidate in partnership with the British drug major AstraZeneca, which has its Indian operations in Bengaluru.
“The vaccine dose was administered to five persons who volunteered for the phase-2 trial after investigation and monitoring,” the official pointed out.
According to Pharmacy Council of India President B. Suresh, who is the pro-chancellor of the JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, the vital parameters of the volunteers like body temperature, blood pressure and heart beats were checked before commencing the trial.
Besides Covishield, the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Ahmedabad’s Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D are also testing their vaccine candidates.