According to the NIH, half of the volunteers get a placebo dose, while the rest get the vaccine for research purposes through computerized entry. Neither the volunteer nor the supervisor knows if the dose is a placebo or not, but those who got the placebo will get vaccine after its formal launch.

In a conversation with Xinhua, Qaisar Sohail, area manager of AJM Pharma, a pharmaceutical company which is a partner of the trial and would sponsor the vaccine in Pakistan after its final launch in China, said that people are eagerly awaiting the vaccine in Pakistan to combat the hike in COVID-19 cases and fatalities during the second wave, which is also a motivating factor for the trial volunteers.