Last week, AIIMS Patna started a similar trial for Bharat Biotech's vaccine on children

The All India Medical Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi is expected to start screening children for clinical trials of India-made Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin from Monday.

This came as AIIMS Delhi got permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI).

The DCGI's approval came after a recommendation on May 12 by a Subject Expert Committee (SEC).

Last week, AIIMS Patna started a similar trial for Bharat Biotech's vaccine on children aged between 12 and 18 years.

The children selected for the trials will receive two doses of the vaccine at an interval of 28 days. They will then be evaluated on a diverse set of parameters to assess how the vaccine works on children.

India started the world's largest vaccination drive on January 16 this year in a phased manner with healthcare workers getting inoculated first.

India has approved three Covid-19 vaccines for use- Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, AstraZeneca's Covishield and Russia's Sputnik V.

Covaxin and Covishield are being manufactured in India. Manufacture of Sputnik V in India is also expected to begin in August.

However, the vaccines being used in India have not been approved for use on children.

NITI Aayog Member (Health) VK Paul last month said the phase 2/3 trials will be conducted on children aged between two and 18 years old.

The United States and Canada have authorized Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine for use in some age groups of children. China has also approved the emergency use of CoronaVac, a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Chinese firm Sinovac, for children aged between 3 and 17 years.