Russia Starts Testing Sputnik V COVID-19 Vaccine On High-Risk Groups In 3rd Phase

Moscow: The third and final phase of trials for Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine candidate is progressing well, having started clinical tests on volunteers from high-risk groups, including elderly people.

Sputnik V, which is being developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute of Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, is the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine to be registered.

Clinical trials having already been completed for the first two phases, the vaccine will be eventually tested on 40,000 Muscovites, reported Russian English-language news channel RT.

“We do not expect any negative reactions from the elderly,” Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is financing the process, was quoted as saying. “My mother and father are 74 years old. They have also been vaccinated as part of the volunteer programme and feel great.”

President Vladimir Putin announced on August 11 that Russia had registered the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, which will be available to general public from January 2021.