COVID-19: Russia Set To Register World’s First Vaccine On August 12

Moscow: Russia plans to register the world’s first vaccine against COVID-19 on August 12, media reports quoted Deputy Health Minister Oleg Gridnev as saying.

“The vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute will be registered on August 12. At the moment, the last and third stage of trial is underway. The trials are extremely important. We have to understand that the vaccine must be safe. Medical professionals and senior citizens will be the first to get vaccinated,” the Russian minister said at the opening of a cancer centre on Saturday.

The vaccine is being jointly developed by Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry.

On his part, the director of Gamaleya Research Institute, Alexander Gintsburg, informed that the vaccine used inanimate particles created on the basis of adenovirus, according to Sputnik News.

Gintsburg further said that there are no concerns that the vaccine could potentially cause harm to a person’s health.

“The particles and objects that can reproduce their own kind are the ones that are considered alive. The particles in question cannot multiply,” he said.

Some people naturally have a fever when immune system of the person being vaccinated receives a powerful boost but this “side-effect” can easily be overcome by taking paracetamol, he added.

Earlier, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko had said that the country plans to begin mass production of the vaccine from October 2020. He also mentioned that members of “risk groups” such as medical workers may be offered the vaccine this month.

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