Russia will register its first vaccine against the coronavirus on 12 August, Deputy Health Minister Oleg Gridnev said Friday.
"At the moment, the last, third, stage is underway. The trials are extremely important. We have to understand that the vaccine must be safe. Medical professionals and senior citizens will be the first to get vaccinated," Gridnev told reporters at the opening of a cancer centre building in the city of Ufa.
According to the minister, the effectiveness of the vaccine will be judged when the population has developed an immunity.
The vaccine has been developed jointly by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry.
Clinical trial data and other documents on the COVID-19 vaccine that was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute are currently under expert review, and the decision on registration will be made based on its results, the press service of the Russian Health Ministry said Friday.
"The documents that are needed to register the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of the Health Ministry, including clinical trial data, are under expert review. The decision on registration will be made based on the results of the review," the ministry said.
Clinical Trials of the Vaccine
The Russian coronavirus vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, is undergoing clinical trials at two institutions: the Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital and the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.
The vaccine, jointly developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry, has two separately-injected components that together are expected to build a long-term immunity against the virus.
Clinical trials of the vaccine began on 18 June and included 38 volunteers. All of the participants developed an immunity. The first group was discharged on 15 July, the second group on 20 July.
On 11 March, the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus infection a pandemic. According to the latest WHO data, more than 18 million cases of the infection have already been identified in the world and over 700 thousand people have succumbed to the disease.
