<span style="color: #222222;">The phase-III human clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University, and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India- SII, began today at the state-run Sassoon General Hospital in Pune.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">According to the dean of Sasoon Hospital, the dose of the Vaccine is to be administered to 150 to 200 volunteers.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Under phase-II, trials had been conducted at the Bharti Vidyapeeth Medical College and also KEM Hospital in the city.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The SII has partnered with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca for manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, being developed by the University of Oxford.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Earlier this month, the SII had paused the clinical trials of the vaccine candidate in the country.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had on September 11 directed the SII to suspend any new recruitment in the phase-II and III clinical trial of the vaccine till further orders after AstraZeneca paused the trials in other countries because of "an unexplained illness" in a participant in the study.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">However, on September 15, the DCGI gave permission to the SII to resume clinical trial of the vaccine. </span><br />