Russia becomes first country to unveil coronavirus vaccine
PD Reporter and Agencies
Russia yesterday became the first country to announce that it had developed a local vaccine for Covid-19 virus.
President Vladmir Putin said the vaccine had passed all the required tests and his daughter was among the first people to get a dose.
He said mass production would begin soon with doctors and teachers likely to be the first to get immunised.
Speaking at a government meeting on state television, Putin said the vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, was safe.
“I know that it works quite effectively, forms strong immunity, and I repeat, it has passed all the needed checks,” said Putin.
Putin said that his daughter had a temperature of 38°C on the day of the first vaccine injection, and then it dropped to just over 37°C on the following day.
After the second shot she again had a slight increase in temperature, but then it was all over.
Testing on Humans
“She’s feeling well and has high number of antibodies,” Putin added. He didn’t specify which of his two daughters, Maria Vorontsova or Katerina Tikhonova, had received the vaccine.
The announcement comes less than two months after Russia started testing on humans.
There are concerns over Russia’s rush to declare that it has found a vaccine for the deadly respiratory disease.
Last Week, World Health Organisation (WHO) asked Russia to follow international guidelines for producing the vaccine.
WHO yesterday said it had been in talks with Russian authorities about undertaking a review of the vaccine.
More than 100 vaccines around the world are in early development, with some of those being tested on people in clinical trials.
Despite rapid progress, most experts think any vaccine would not become widely available until mid-2021.
The Russian vaccine is not among the WHO’s list of six vaccines that have reached phase three clinical trials, which involves more tests on humans.
The vaccine’s approval by Russian regulators comes before the completion of a larger study involving thousands of people, known as a phase-three trial.
Forward step
Experts consider these trials an essential part of the testing process.
Despite this, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said he vaccine had “proven to be highly effective and safe”, hailing it as a big step towards “humankind’s victory” over Covid-19.
Last week, the Russian government announced it was preparing to begin mass vaccinations against coronavirus in October.
Russian scientists said early-stage trials of the vaccine had been completed and the results were a success.
The Russian vaccine uses adapted strains of the adenovirus, a virus that usually causes the common cold, to trigger an immune response.
Russia has registered 897,599 coronavirus cases, the fourth highest number of cases in the world, and 15,131 deaths.
Kenya yesterday said it is ready to engage Russia on the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr Mercy Mwangangi said the government would follow laid-down protocols and regulations in a bid to explore the potential of getting access to the vaccine.
Russia’s announcement comes a day after the World Health Organisation said efforts to develop a vaccine would cost over Sh1 trillion ($100 billion).
Speaking during the media briefing on Covid-19 on Monday, WHO director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is need for a concerted efforts to raise the money towards the process of getting a vaccine for the disease.
“This sounds like lot of money and it is. But it’s small in comparison to the 10 trillion dollars that have already been invested by G20 countries in fiscal stimulus to deal with the consequences of the pandemic so far,” he said.
Vaccines supported under the ACT Accelerator programme that was launched three months ago are in the second or third phase of trials while the Global Vaccines Facility is engaging over 160 countries.
Ghebreyesus said only 10 per cent to the funds needed to achieve the goals of the programme are available, meaning that the race to find a vaccine to fight to pandemic could stall if funds aren’t available.
“The coming three months present a crucial window of opportunity to scale-up the work of the ACT-Accelerator for global impact.
However, to exploit this window we have to fundamentally scale up the way we are financing the ACT-Accelerator and prioritise the use of new tools.
There is a vast global gap between our ambition for the ACT-Accelerator and the amount of funds that have been committed,” he said.
Global Vaccines Facility is engaging over 160 countries. The programme is a global initiative that combines public and private sector expertise in research and development, manufacturing, procurement and delivery of tools needed to fight the pandemic.
Ghebreyesus, however said only 10 per cent to the funds needed to achieve the goals of the programme are available, meaning that the WHO-led race to find a vaccine to fight the pandemic could stall if funds aren’t available.
“The coming three months present a crucial window of opportunity to scale-up the work of the ACT-Accelerator for global impact.
However, to exploit this window we have to fundamentally scale up the way we are financing the ACT-Accelerator and prioritise the use of new tools.
There is a vast global gap between our ambition for the ACT-Accelerator and the amount of funds that have been committed,” he said.
As the world moves towards registering 20 million Covid-19 cases and 750,000 deaths this week, Ghebreyesus said both leaders and citizens must take action to stop the spread of the virus.
“I know many of you are grieving and that this is a difficult moment for the world.
But I want to be clear, there are green shoots of hope and no matter where a country, a region, a city or a town is – it’s never too late to turn the outbreak around.
There are two essential elements to addressing the pandemic effectively: Leaders must step up to take action and citizens need to embrace new measures,” he said.
He cited the success of countries such as New Zealand, Rwanda and Mekong region and Island states across the Caribbean and Pacific as prove there is hope of defeating the virus.
“New Zealand is seen as a global exemplar and over the weekend Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern celebrated 100 days with no community transmission, while stressing the need to remain cautious.
Rwanda’s progress is due to a similar combination of strong leadership, universal health coverage, well-supported health workers and clear public health communications.
All testing and treatment for COVID-19 is free in Rwanda, so there are no financial barriers to people getting tested,” he said.
Ghebreyesus said the success of fighting the virus was hinged on investing in the public health systems and taking a risk-based approach to reopen segments of society, including schools.
“We all want to see schools safely reopened but we also need to ensure that students, staff and faculty are safe.
The foundation for this is adequate control of transmission at the community.
My message is crystal clear: suppress, suppress, suppress the virus. If we suppress the virus effectively, we can safely open up societies.
