Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Despite sparking a skeptical reaction from the global public, the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Russian Ministry of Defense and Gamaleya Research Institute, Sputnik V, will run a third phase of the test.
However, to get a distribution license, Sputnik V had to go through testing on more than 40,000 people. The trials must also be supervised by research institutes from abroad.
Russia, which only registered the corona vaccine in early August, will test a vaccine in Mexico. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, as reported by Reuters, said if Mexico was offered a trial at least 2,000 doses of vaccine.
The website for Sputnik V says the final stage or phase III clinical trial involved more than 2,000 people and started on August 12 in Russia, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Mexico. Mass production of the vaccine is scheduled to begin in September.
Apart from these several countries, apparently Israel also wants to take part. Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center is currently in negotiations to test the Sputnik V vaccine, as well as the potential for producing and distributing it in the Jewish state, The Jerusalem Post confirmed.
Polina Stepensky, chair of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplant & Child and Adult Cancer Immunotherapy in Hadassah, said that “we are negotiating” specifically to take part in a trial of the third phase of the Sputnik V vaccine.
If the Sputnik V vaccine proves safe and effective, the Israeli side will set up production facilities so that the vaccine will be available to the people of that country.
“As both a doctor and a scientist, I think they have developed a very extraordinary thing,” said Stepensky, noting that he himself would be willing to get a shot of the vaccine. “From a scientific approach, in my eyes a good approach. We want to collaborate so that we can learn and understand more.”
However, the Israeli Health Ministry confirmed they were aware of the negotiations, but did not say whether to allow the trial.
Earlier this August, the Head of Hadassah Medical Center, Zeev Rotstein said that Russia was recruiting hospitals to collaborate on clinical trials, and the Hadassah branch in Skolkovo had volunteered.
However, the researchers and WHO warned Russia to be careful because it still requires a rigorous safety review. According to Channel News Asia, the tests with thousands of people would be the equivalent of the Phase 3 trials that vaccines from other companies are currently undergoing.
The head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriyev, said in an online briefing that vaccination of at-risk groups, including medical personnel, will also start next week on a voluntary basis. More than 20 countries according to him have made requests to buy more than one billion doses of the vaccine.
Dmitriyev added that Russia has agreements with several countries to produce vaccines. In addition, mass vaccination in Russia is targeted to start in October and exports in November or December 2020.
This vaccine received warnings from western scientists that Russia may be moving too fast. However, Dmitriyev said the skeptical reaction from the global public was waning.
“We see a significant change in tone from WHO. Initially yes, they did not have enough information about the Russian vaccine, now official information has been sent and they will evaluate it,” he said, quoted by Channel News Asia on Friday (21/08/2020) .
But Dmitriyev added “We don’t see any obstacle for individual regulators to approve a Russian vaccine without WHO approval,” he said.
The Russian-made vaccine is different from other vaccines, because it has not been fully clinically tested until the final stage.
The vaccine, which has been injected into the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has also caused controversy, because the clinical trial report has not been published in a scientific journal. In addition, Russia was also accused of being involved in the theft of data about vaccines.
Science magazine reports that the Russian Ministry of Health has issued a permit to use Sputnik V for a small part of Russian society, especially those who are susceptible to contracting Covid-19.
However, in this license, the Sputnik V vaccine cannot be used for the public at large before January 1, 2021. It is likely that it will only be widely used after a massive clinical trial and following the applicable procedures.
According to the CNBC Indonesia Research Team, the Sputnik V vaccine uses an engineered virus (adenovirus type) to carry the genetic material of the new corona virus in the form of the ‘Spike’ protein coding gene so that it is expected to be able to induce antibody formation.
As of Saturday (22/8/2020), Russia has recorded 946,976 positive cases, with 16,189 deaths, and 761,330 patients successfully recovered. According to Worldometers data, Russia occupies the fourth highest position after the United States, Brazil and India.
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