As India continues to log the highest number of coronavirus cases daily in the world since August 8, there comes a ray of hope as government’s think-tank Niti Aayog has said that a vaccine for coronavirus will enter the third phase of clinical trials in India anytime now.

The vaccine which will be tested is the one developed by UK’s Oxford University, Niti Aayog chief VK Paul said media.

The clinical trial document of the Serum Institute — which is in charge of mass manufacturing the vaccine of Oxford University, currently dubbed “Covishield” — shows that 1,600 subjects will be tested at 17 hospitals across the country including AIIMS Delhi and Jodhpur. The trial will take seven months.

Meanwhile, the Chinese vaccine developed by Sinopharm is said to be available by December 2020 and will cost Rs 10,000 for two doses, as per a Global Times report. Australian Prime Minister has assured that the COVID19 vaccine will be made available for free for its citizens.

He said that the central government has reviewed these experimental coronavirus vaccine candidates. He said that potential coronavirus vaccines are making good progress. He also said that the outline of the Coronavirus vaccine administration and supply chain is ready.

In his Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort, PM Modi had promised that the vaccine, once developed, will reach every Indian.

“Three vaccines are in different stages of testing. When scientists give the go-ahead, we are ready with a plan for production. How the vaccine will reach every Indian in the least amount of time – we have a roadmap ready for that,” the Prime Minister had said.

India’s other two indigenous vaccines which are undergoing human trials. These are COVXIN and ZyCoV-D. Covaxin is being developed by Bharat Biotech, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and National Institute of Virology, Pune. COVAXIN already completed phase 1 human trials in just one month. It had begun its Phase 2 human trials. Human trials of COVAXIN are going on in 12 sites across India. Zydus Cadila is developing the other potential COVID vaccine ZyCoV-D. Meanwhile, the Pune-based Serum Institute is also beginning the phase 3 human trials of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s coronavirus candidate.