Russia, which last week became the first country to grant regulatory approval to a Covid-19 vaccine amid scepticism from the global scientific community, has released a video showing how the ‘Sputnik V’ jab would end the novel coronavirus.
The 38-second promotional video, created by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which has bankrolled the project, shows how the Sputnik V vaccine, named after the first artificial satellite, emerges and slowly eradicates the novel coronavirus from the world, with cases rising to 21.6 million, including 7,74,000 deaths. Another video showing the vaccine’s production has also been released, Sputnik News reported.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute along with the Defence Ministry, worked “quite effectively” and formed “stable immunity” against the disease.
Phase III trials to begin in 7-10 days
According to the Tass news agency, the mandatory phase-III human trials of the Sputnik V vaccine would begin in 7-10 days and several tens of thousands of people would be vaccinated. The research will be conducted in the Moscow Region.
“On August 17, we will present the first version of the protocol on post-registration research. Given this great interest and attention of the public and the press, I think that the Health Ministry won’t delay the process and will approve the protocol within a week,” Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center, was quoted as saying to Tass.
The vaccine went through phase-I and phase-II testing in superfast time, the entire process being completed in less than two months, with the government skipping Phase III trials before granting approval.
First batch of Russian Covid-19 vaccine produced
The first batch of the Russian vaccine has been produced and would be rolled out by the end of this month, a Reuters report said. The timeline is earlier than its previous announcements about making the vaccine available by September and starting mass vaccination by October.
Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute said previously that Russia would be producing about 5 million doses a month by December-January. However, critics have pointed out that the Sistema facility is only capable of producing 1.5 million doses of a vaccine in a year — which is far below the quantity needed to meet the world’s demands.
Russia has already received requests for over on one billion doses of its Covid-19 vaccine from as many as 20 countries, according to the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev.