Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : July 20, 2020 1:07 PM IST
Russia is targeting to produce 30 million doses of the vaccine domestically and 170 million abroad in 2020.
There is competition among the countries to be the first to find a vaccine against COVID-19. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as many as 150 vaccine candidates are under development across the world, out of which around 17 are being tested on humans. While many experts are of the opinion that the COVID-19 vaccine may not be possible this year, some countries are claiming to release one by September. Russia recently claimed that it is the first nation to finish human trials for the COVID-19 vaccine. Now, the country's health minister Mikhail Murashko has said that they will make the vaccine available to the general public before it clears the last phase of clinical trials, reported a Russian news agency.
Speaking to reporters during a working trip to the central Russian city of Yekaterinburg, Murashko noted that additional clinical research of the approved vaccine will be conducted simultaneously the report said.
That vaccine will start phase 3 trials in thousands of people on Aug. 3 in Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, said another media report quoting Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the government-backed Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). Russia is targeting to produce 30 million doses domestically and 170 million abroad in 2020 and Dmitriev said that five countries have already expressed interest in producing the vaccine.
A few days ago, Russia's Sechenov University announced that it had successfully completed clinical trials of the world's first vaccine for the novel coronavirus. The vaccine is developed by Russia's Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.
Alexander Lukashev, the director of Sechenov's Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical and Vector-Borne Diseases, told a news agency that the trials had established the vaccine's safety on human health.
Chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk had also told Russian news agency TASS last week the trial results have proved that the vaccine is safe and effective. She also claimed added that the vaccine will be discharged soon but didn't say when it would enter the commercial production stage.
The first two trials at Sechenov University were conducted on two groups of volunteers the first test was done on 18 volunteers and the second one on 20 volunteers. After the successful completion of the trails, the volunteers were then discharged on July 15 and July 20.
Earlier in a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the volunteers given the COVID-19 vaccine were developing immunity to the coronavirus.
"The data obtained by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology proves that volunteers of the first and second groups are forming an immune response after injections of the vaccine against the coronavirus," IANS quoted the statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.
Meanwhile, the United States, Britain and Canada have accused Russian state intelligence of hacking international research centers involved in COVID-19 vaccine development.
However, Director of the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute, Alexander Gintsburg has refuted the allegations. Gintsburg told a news agency on Friday that their vaccine is "patented and more advanced than Western competitors and will be happy to share the technology with foreign colleagues, should they require."
"Most probably, if there is any borrowing, it will be our immunization scheme to be borrowed, and we will be happy to share our hacks with the colleagues, should they need," ANI quoted him as saying.
According to Gintsburg, Gamaleya has been developing the technology that was used to create the coronavirus vaccine for the past 25 years.
