Russia says it can start mass vaccination of the population in October with its own vaccine against the coronavirus. Health Minister Moerashko leaves to state news agencies RIA in Interfax know that doctors and teachers will be vaccinated first.
The development and registration of the Russian vaccine should be completed in the coming weeks, said Mashashko.
Much unknown
In mid-July, the country already announced that it wanted to produce at least 30 million doses of its own vaccine this year. The vaccine had just been tested on 38 people for a month in the so-called first phase of the clinical study.
According to Kirill Dmitriev, head of the state investment fund that funds the development of the vaccine, those initial tests showed that the vaccine was safe. It sparked a response from the immune system, he told Reuters news agency.
It is not clear how strong that reaction was. Just like how the vaccine has developed since then. Unlike many other vaccines, no studies are publicly available, says Rinke van den Brink, health care editor.
The Russian vaccine therefore remains somewhat mysterious. For example, the vaccine is being developed by the relatively unknown Gamaleja Institute, in close collaboration with the Russian Ministry of Defense. “It is therefore possible that it is a great vaccine, but nobody can control it,” says Van den Brink.
Yesterday, prominent American immunologist Fauci said in the US Congress that he hopes that the Russians will test the vaccine extensively before it is put into use. “Claiming that a vaccine is ready to be distributed before it has been tested is problematic to say the least,” he said.
Sputnik moment
Should the Russian vaccine work as well as claimed, the country is likely to be the first in the world to have a vaccine against the virus.
“It is a Sputnik moment,” investment fund boss Dmitriv told Wednesday CNN about the rapid development of the vaccine, referring to the world premiere of the Russians in 1957 with the launch of the first satellite in orbit. “The Americans were amazed when they heard the first squeaks from the Sputnik. It will be the same with this vaccine.”
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