new delhi union health minister harsh vardhan on monday said a portfolio of therapeutic options for covid19 patients is being built by undertaking 13 clinical trials of repurposed drugs and harnessing traditional knowledge using the modern medicine approachmaking a statement in lok sabha on the covid19 pandemic and the steps taken by the central government vardhan said in india a major focus has been on facilitating the development of covid19 vaccine and more than 30 vaccine candidates have been supported which are in different stages of developmenthe said phase 2 clinical trial of immunomodulator sepsivac has been completed successfully while phase 2 clinical trial of the firstever phytopharmaceutical acqh is underwayone prophylactic trial of aswagandha and three trials of guduchi plus pippali yashtimadhu and polyherbal ayush drug ayush64 are planned on moderatelyill covid19 patients he saidthirteen clinical trials of repurposed drugs and harnessing of traditional knowledge using the modern medicine approach are building a portfolio of therapeutic options for covid19 patients the health minister saidvardhan said an effective vaccine would be the sure shot tool in armamentarium against this diseaseon this front globally there are around 145 candidate vaccines in preclinical evaluation and currently 35 vaccines in clinical trial he saidin india a major focus has been on facilitating the development of covid19 vaccine and more than 30 vaccine candidates have been supported which are in different stages of development vardhan saidthree candidates are in advanced stage of phase iiiiii trials and more than four are in advanced preclinical development stage he saidcovid19 biorepositories have been setup which have collected more than 40000 samples that have been made available to researchers and industry for developing diagnostics therapeutics and vaccines the minister said in his statementto coordinate the procurement and distribution of covid19 vaccine the government has constituted a national expert group on vaccine administration for covid19 on august 7 2020 under the chairmanship of member health niti aayog he saidin his statement vardhan also said the ministry of ayush has contributed through various measures for the management and mitigation of covid19the ministry recommended guidelines of selfcare for preventive health measures and boosting immunity he saidthe ministry of ayush has also issued health advisories from different systems of medicine on prophylaxis and immunity promotion which was translated into eight foreign languages and circulated to indian embassies he saidvarious ayush hospitals were designated as quarantine centres isolation centres covid care centres and covid health centres he pointed outaround 85 lakh ayush healthcare professionals have been registered on covidwarriorsgovin he saidan interdisciplinary ayush rd task force has formulated and designed clinical research protocols for ayush prophylactic studies and addon interventions in covid19 positive cases he saidayushcsir collaborative studies were initiated with ayush medicines for prophylaxistreatment he saida large scale populationbased study through ayush research councils and national institutes under the ministry on prophylaxis of ayush interventions in targeted populations in containment zones is underway he saidministry of ayush has also initiated impact assessment of effectiveness acceptance and usage of ayush advisories and measures