Russia says Coronavirus vaccine is tested and safe, plans to launch by mid-August: Reports

The vaccine tested at the Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital is safe and well-tolerated, the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.

“The available data based on laboratory and instrumental research makes it possible to say that the vaccine is safe and well-tolerated,” the ministry said.

According to the report, eighteen volunteers took part in the vaccine trials. Their vital signs were within normal limits for 28 days after the vaccination. According to the Defense Ministry, on the 42nd day after the first vaccination, volunteers will have to return to the hospital for the final medical examination and diagnostics.

Russian scientists had claimed on Monday that they hope to launch the world’s first coronavirus as soon as next month, as per report. On Sunday, Russia’s Sechenov University said that it had successfully completed clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the state-run Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

The head and chief researcher at Sechenov University Center for Clinical Research on Medications Elena Smolyarchuk told Russian news agency TASS that clinical trials of the vaccine on volunteers have been completed and study data showed the candidate’s effectiveness.

“The research has been completed and it proved that the vaccine is safe,” Smolyarchuk was quoted as saying by TASS of its trial.

The Gamalei center’s director Alexander Gintsburg told TASS that he hopes the vaccine will ‘enter civil circulation’ on August 12-14, adding that private companies may begin mass production by September, The Moscow Times reported.

According to The Moscow Times report, Smolyarchuk had said earlier in July that some participants developed typical responses to injections like headaches, elevated body temperatures. However, these symptoms were resolved within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation’s protocols said that a vaccine has to go through three phases of studies before being approved for large-scale production. Also, WHO’s draft landscape of coronavirus vaccines lists the Russian candidate vaccine study as a phase 1 trial.