Coronavirus: Russia makes international concerns over vaccine “unfounded”

Russia dismissed growing international concern over the safety of locally developed Covid-19 vaccines as “fully groundless”.

On Tuesday, it said the vaccine was given regulatory approval in humans after less than two months of testing.

However, experts immediately expressed concern about the speed of work in Russia, raising skepticism with a growing list of countries.

Scientists in Germany, France, Spain, and the United States call attention.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Interfax on Wednesday: “Foreign colleagues are feeling a certain competitive advantage of Russian narcotics and are trying to express an absolutely unfounded opinion. Seems to be true.”

He added that the vaccine would be available soon.

“The first package of medical vaccines will arrive within the next two weeks, mainly for physicians,” Murashko said.

Russian officials say they plan to begin mass vaccination in October.

Tuesday’s announcement was made by President Vladimir Putin, who said the vaccine passed all the checks it needed and his daughter had already been given it.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was in talks with Russian authorities about undertaking a review of a vaccine named Sputnik V.

It is not included in the list of six vaccines that have reached Phase 3 clinical trials, including a more extensive human trial.

How is the reaction?

Russia’s advances in coronavirus vaccine have been hit by skepticism from US and European health officials and the media.

On Wednesday, the German Health Minister expressed concern that it was not properly tested.

“It can be dangerous to start vaccination for millions of people, and if that doesn’t work, it can kill a lot of vaccination acceptance,” Jens says. Spahn told local media.

“Based on everything we know…this has not been fully tested,” he added. “It’s not about doing something first, but getting a safe vaccine.”

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Elsewhere in Europe, Isabel Inver, a researcher at the French Center for Scientific Research in Marseille, said it was “very dangerous” to promise treatment too early.

“We don’t know the methodology or results of their clinical trials,” she told Le Parisien.

And in the United States, the country’s top virus expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he doubted Russia’s claims.

“I hope the Russians have really clearly proved that the vaccine is safe and effective,” he told National Geographic. “I seriously doubt that they did it.”

Meanwhile, Moscow-based Clinical Trials Organization (Acto), one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies based in Russia, has called on the Ministry of Health to defer approval until Phase III.

Acto Executive Director Svetlana Zavidova said on the MedPortal site in Russia that a decision was made on a large-scale vaccination after a combination of phase 1 and phase 2 tests for 76 people, based on which the drug It is impossible to confirm the effectiveness of.

However, some countries have responded positively to the announcement by Moscow.

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte offered to test the vaccine himself.

“I think the vaccine you made is really good for humanity,” he said. “I am the first to be tested.”

And Israel said it would go into negotiations to buy it if it turned out to be a “serious product.”

What do you know about vaccines?

Russian scientists said early-stage trials of the vaccine were completed And the result was success.

Russian vaccines use an adapted strain of adenovirus, a virus that usually causes a cold, to provoke an immune response.

However, approval of the vaccine by Russian regulators comes before the completion of a large study involving thousands, known as a Phase 3 trial.

Experts consider these tests to be an important part of the testing process.

Nonetheless, Murashico praised Tuesday that the vaccine “proved to be very effective and safe,” praising it as a big step towards “humanity’s victory” against Covid-19. Did.

Russia likened the quest for vaccines to the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War.

Russia has previously been accused by Britain, the United States, and Canada of attempting to steal research related to Covid-19.

Over 100 vaccines worldwide are in the early stages of development, with some being tested in people in clinical trials.

Despite the rapid progress, most experts believe that no vaccine will be widely available until mid-2021.