President Vladimir Putin said Russia had legalized the use of the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine and hoped to begin mass inoculation soon, even before clinical trials ended.
“The first recording took place,” Putin said Tuesday at a televised government meeting, adding that one of his daughters had already won the vaccine. “I hope we can start mass production soon.”
The resolution paves the way for the widespread use of the vaccine among the Russian population, with production starting next month, it would possibly take until January to complete the trials. Medical staff may also begin receiving the drug until the end of the month, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said at the meeting.
The announcement represents a propaganda coup for the Kremlin amid a global race to expand vaccines that oppose the coronavirus pandemic and accusations that Russian hackers have tried to borrow foreign drug research. The disease has killed some 750,000 people, inflamed more than 20 million and paralyzed national economies. Companies like AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna Inc. are still conducting the latest testing of their vaccines in studies expected to produce effects soon.
Comparison of Sputnik
Russia has defined how it foresees development, naming the Sputnik V vaccine in a nod to the good fortune of the Soviet Union by launching the world’s first satellite in 1957.
However, the speed with which the vaccine won regulatory approval has generated criticism, and an agreement by multinational pharmaceutical corporations called the rushed record dangerous.
“This is a political resolution through Putin. He can say that Russia was the first in the race to expand a Covid-19 vaccine,” said Svetlana Zavidova, executive director of the Russian Association of Clinical Trial Organizations. “I cannot understand why Russia wants to build this village of Potemkin.”
The vaccine is being developed through the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which have said it is in Phase 3 trials, the most recent step in which thousands of others are administered to determine their suitability for employment. A World Health Organization database lists the vaccine as only in Phase 1, the earliest stage.
RDIF leader Kirill Dmitriev downplayed the complaint that developers have not yet released peer-reviewed effects at a press convention on Tuesday.
Test data
“According to Russian regulations, they can publish it more after registration,” Dmitriev said of the initial trial data, adding that the effects are “incredibly impressive” and will soon be released.
RDIF will produce more than 500 million doses consistent with the year in five countries, and mass vaccinations in Russia will begin in October, Dmitriev said.
RDIF plans to conduct phase 3 clinical trials in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, India and the Philippines, on the Sputnik V website. Mass production is aligned in India, South Korea, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Cuba, he said, with at least 20 countries interested in stocking.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said last week that all vaccine applicants adhere to established practices and comprehensive clinical trials before being widely disseminated.
The Russian candidate is a viral vector vaccine founded on a human adenovirus, an unusual bloodless virus, fused with the complex SARS CoV-2 protein to stimulate an immune reaction and is developed through CanSinologic Bios in China.
News comes when Russia reported that Covid-19 instances have fallen below 5,000 for the first time since April 23, and the number of infections has slowly declined since its peak in May. The seven-day moving average has fallen beyond 31 days, with new cases less than 11,656 reported on May 11.
Russia has around 900,000 people diagnosed with Covid-19, the fourth highest case shown in the world. There were more than 27,000 coronavirus-related deaths this quarter, according to the federal Statistics Service’s knowledge released this week.