Goa Connect To UK Covid Vaccine Trial

Dr Vikram Sinai Talaulikar talks about his decision to volunteer in a UK trial vaccine against the novel coronavirus in an exclusive chat with Editor-in-Chief at Prudent Media Pramod Acharya

- Pramod Acharya

The University of Oxford in the UK, in collaboration with the biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, is developing a vaccine to fight COVID that is now in its final phase of trials. The vaccine is being administered to thousands of people who are being monitored closely.

Trials require volunteers in large numbers and one such Samaritan is associate specialist at the Reproductive Medicine Unit in University College London Hospital NHS Trust and Hon. senior clinical lecturer at the university Dr Vikram Sinai Talaulikar, who traces his roots to Goa.

Busting the myths around the COVID vaccine trials, Dr Talaulikar opens up to Prudent Media in an exclusive chat.

Tell us more about how this vaccine will work

When the Oxford vaccine trial was announced, the situation in the UK was very difficult. The priority was to get the vaccine out immediately. Usually it takes years; but we had to get this vaccine out in months. So they appealed for volunteers. People were dying, the situation was terrible and vaccine trials cannot succeed unless you have large number of volunteers for testing and analysis. Fortunately, the trial was also being conducted in my hospital. So I got an opportunity to enroll myself.

Once the vaccine is administered to thousands of people, we need to see how many face side-effects or complications or any other problems. That would determine the effectiveness of the vaccine. Once you enroll yourself in the trial, all health parameter tests are conducted. If you are declared fit for the trial and the vaccine is administered, you are continuously monitored.