Russia said Wednesday that the first batch of its Covid-19 vaccine would be in position for some doctors within two weeks and ruled out as “unfounded” protection considerations expressed by some experts about Moscow’s rapid approval of the drug.
President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia was the first country to grant regulatory approval to a Covid-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing.
The vaccine has yet to finish its latest tests. Only about 10% of clinical trials are a success and some scientists fear that Moscow will put national prestige ahead of safety.
“It turns out that our foreign colleagues are feeling the explicit competitive benefits of Russian drugs and expect explicit reviews that we have no basis,” Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Wednesday.
She said the vaccine developed through the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow would be given to individuals, doctors, voluntarily, and would soon be ready.
“The first packs of the medical vaccine against coronavirus infection will be won in the next two weeks, basically for doctors,” he said.
Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Institute, said clinical trials would be conducted once they had been evaluated by Russia’s own experts.
He said Russia expects to produce five million doses according to the month until December-January.
Kazakhstan plans to send government officials to Moscow later this month to discuss imaginable deliveries of the vaccine, announced its presidential workplace.
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