The final trials of a Russian coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology may be completed earlier than in other countries, an expert said.
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told the Vesti news programme on Rossiya-1television on Thursday that this phase 3 trial is necessary to put the vaccine into active use.
"We believe that Russia will possibly go through this phase quicker than other countries," Dmitriev said, reports TASS.
He said phase 3 trials implied switching over to large-scale human trials which will involve thousands of people in Moscow. "And we’ll also start conducting phase 3 in other countries," Dmitriev said, noting that the phase 2 trials would be completed on August 3.
Regulatory approval of the vaccine is expected in August-September, he said.
Direct Investment Fund forecasts the production of 30 million doses of the vaccine in 2020, or even 50 million if necessary. The vaccination of Russian nationals may be completed early in 2021.
Meanwhile, 105 global leaders, including 18 Nobel Laureates, signed a call initiated by Yunus Centre to declare Covid-19 Vaccines as a global common good. The effectiveness of the upcoming vaccination campaign will depend on its universality, said the signatories.
But as the race for a vaccine intensifies, rich countries are rushing to place advance orders for the inevitably limited supply to guarantee their citizens get immunised first raising questions about whether developing countries will get any vaccine before the pandemic ends.
Earlier this month, the UN, International Red Cross and Red Crescent, and others said it was a "moral imperative" that everyone has access to a "people’s vaccine." But such grand declarations are unenforceable, and the allocation of vaccines could be extremely messy.
(Source: TASS)
