Jubilee Post News & Views
Jubilee News Desk
Even as Russia claims of safety and efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik V’ the country is facing strong criticism from scientists across the globe for rushing the vaccine development process and limiting people in the trial before launching it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, after his daughter became first person to get the vaccine shot, said on Tuesday a locally developed vaccine for Covid-19 has been given regulatory approval after less than two months of testing on humans. They now plan to start mass vaccination in October.
Reacting to Russia’s announcement, US health secretary Alex Azar said the goal of developing a coronavirus vaccine is not to be first, but to have one that is safe and effective. “The point is not to be first with a vaccine the point is to have a vaccine that is safe and effective for the American people and the people of the world,” Azar said.
Danny Altmann, Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, told the Science Media Centre there were concerns about releasing a vaccine before it was fully tested.
Amid fears that safety could have been compromised, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Russia to follow international guidelines for producing a vaccine against COVID-19. Moreover, the Russian vaccine is not among the WHO’s list of six vaccines that have reached phase three clinical trials, which involve more widespread testing in humans.
Putin said that one of his daughters had tested a Russian COVID-19 vaccine on herself and that she is feeling well. “I know this very well, because one of my daughters got vaccinated, so in this sense, she took part in testing,” Putin said.
The vaccine has two separately-injected components. These two components work together to build a long-term immunity against the virus. The clinical trials of the vaccine started on June 18 and included 38 volunteers. All of the participants developed immunity. The first group was discharged on July 15, the second group on July 20.
Also read : Will climate change be the key to US elections 2020
Also read : Northern Territory in Australia extends border restrictions
