Amid faltering upon the Coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown and economic slowdown triggered by the outbreak, India has been aiming to launch the country's first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by August 15, to hope to mark the independence from the pandemic along with celebrating the nation's independence day. 

The stakeholders involved behind the discovery have been expediting the process of rolling out the clinical trials on the vaccine before it gets unveiled to treat the virus on the national stage. 

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the central government body, has written to select medical institutions and hospitals to fast-track clinical trial approvals for the vaccine candidate 'Covaxin', which has been developed by the ICMR in collaboration with the Bharat Biotech, which is the Hyderabad based Biotechnology company, and with the National Institute of Virology.

According to the reports, the ICMR has identified twelve clinical trial sites currently and it has asked the medical institutions and principal investigators to ensure that these sites initiate the subject enrolment not later than July 7 as the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has consented to roll out the human clinical trials for the vaccine. 

In his letter, ICMR Director-General Dr. Balram Bhargava said to the principal investigators of the 12 sites that it's one of the top priority projects which is being monitored at the top-most level of the government. He further stated that it's envisaged to launch the vaccine for public health use latest by August 15 after completion of all clinical trials.

The reports say that the Bharat Biotech has been ramping up to meet the target. However, the final outcome of the project will be based on the co-operation of all clinical trial sites. According to the reports, 'Covaxin' has become the first candidate developed in India that has been consented by the Drug Controller General of India. 

The ICMR has selected the institutes across India for clinical trials - New Delhi, Patna, Visakhapatnam, Rohtak, Kattankulathur (Chennai), Hyderabad, Arya Nagar, Belgaum (Karnataka), Nagpur, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Goa, and Bhubaneshwar based Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital. According to the Union Health Ministry, India has reported 6,25,544 COVID-19 cases so far as of Friday morning of which 2,27,439 are active, 3,79,892 have been recovered, and 18,213 had succumbed to the virus.