Russia is getting ready to launch the World’s first Covid-19 Vaccine next month after finishing the first human trial of the vaccine on 38 people. A month-long human trial of the vaccine ended recently in Russia with researchers announcing that the vaccine is safe and induces an immune response, though the strength of that response is as yet unclear.
According to the reports, Russia is planning to produce around 30 million doses in its first attempt as an experimental COVID-19 Vaccine to be used domestically this year and they have the potential to manufacture 170 million doses abroad, said the head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
The first human trial of the vaccine that involved a month-long test on 38 people, ended this week. Researchers concluded that it is safe for use and induces an immune response, though the strength of that response is as yet unclear.
The phase III human trial that will involve thousands of people is expected to begin in the month of August, said Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) head Kirill Dmitriev.
“We believe that based on the current results it will be approved in Russia in August and in some other countries in September…, making it possibly the first vaccine to be approved in the world,” he told Reuters in an interview.
According to the sources, The Russian Phase III trial will be conducted in Russia and two Middle Eastern countries, and will begin after a smaller, 100-person Phase II trial wraps up on August 3.
The Coronavirus tally in Russia has reached to the mark of 7.5 lakh which is supposed to be the fourth largest in the world with 6,428 cases has been reported in the last 24 hours.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday confirmed that they are confident enough that this vaccine is safe for the human use and that it has gone through clinical trials on a group of volunteers.
The results of the trials “allow us to speak with confidence about the safety and good tolerability of the vaccine”, it said in a statement.
“Their immunity is working well, antibodies are being created, they are protected against the coronavirus,” researcher Svetlana Volchikhina said in a video released by the defense ministry.
Meanwhile, early-stage human trial data on a vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University will be published on July 20, The Lancet medical journal said. The Oxford vaccine candidate is already in large-scale Phase III human trials in Brazil to assess whether it can protect against COVID-19, but its developers have yet to report Phase I results.
Source: Live Mint
