The Russia coronavirus vaccine could be in use by November. Its full-scale production will start in September, according to RDIF.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the registration of Russian vaccine for coronavirus. He also said that his daughter had already taken it.
“As far as I know, a vaccine against a new coronavirus infection has been registered this morning, for the first time in the world,” he said at a meeting with government officials, RIA Novosti reported.
“Although I know that it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity and, I repeat, has passed all the necessary checks,” Putin said.
RDIF reported that the Russia coronavirus vaccine, which is branded “Sputnik V” for foreign markets, is as already taken preliminary applications for over 1 billion doses of the vaccine from 20 countries.
Russia, along with foreign partners, “are already prepared to manufacture over 500 million doses of vaccine per year in five countries, and the plan is to ramp-up production capacity even higher,” it said.
Russia said its work in on producing a vaccine for Ebola and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) had allowed it to develop a Covid-19 vaccine.
“We were just fortunate that the coronavirus was very close to MERS, so we pretty much had a ready-to-go vaccine on MERS, studied for two years on MERS (and) slightly modified to be the coronavirus vaccine, and that is the real story, no politics ... Russia has always been at the forefront of vaccine research,” Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF, which is backing the vaccine, told CNBC.
Dmitriev said that the vaccine could be available by November.
“Our point to the world is that we have this technology, it can be available in your country in November/December if we work well with your regulator ... People who are very skeptical will not have this vaccine and we wish them good luck in developing theirs,” he said.
Skepticism over Covid-19 vaccine
The World Health Organization said it is in “close contact” with Russian health officials about the “possible pre-qualification process for a Covid-19 candidate vaccine which requires rigorous review,” according to a Reuters report that cites a WHO spokesman.
The agency reported in July that there were 26 candidate vaccines in the clinical evaluation stage. One of these was the one registered in Russia that was created by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
Russia stressed that it is not a part of “arms race” to come up with a vaccine. The country reiterates its intention to cooperate with other countries. However, there is international skepticism over the Russian vaccine. White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, for instance, did not express full confidence in the approaches to testing in Russia and China.
Scientists
Scientists have expressed skepticism over the Russia COVID vaccine.
“Phase three trials are critical” for drug and vaccine development, according to Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Would I be confident about the safety and effectiveness without a phase three? Absolutely not.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is worried that the approval of Russia COVID vaccine could pressure the US to distribute a vaccine before it’s ready.
“It could be a major mistake. It could cause a lot of harm,” he said during an interview on CNBC’s “The Exchange,” saying Russia’s announcement of Sputnik V was a “political stunt.”
