The clinical trials of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine on volunteers at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University have been completed.
The aim of this stage of the trials was to determine the vaccine’s safety for human health. Alexander Lukashev, the director of the Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical and Vector-Borne Diseases at Sechenov University stated that they had successfully achieved successful completion.
“The trials confirmed the safety of the vaccine. It corresponds to the safety of those vaccines that are currently on the market,” Lukashev said, reported ANI.
Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology which is working on this vaccine, however, haven’t disclosed the details about its commercial production yet.
The university reportedly began clinical trials of the vaccine on June 18. A World Health Organisation document on ‘Draft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines’ lists two trials by the Gamalei Research Institute as being Phase-I trials.
What You Should Know
- The clinical trials of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine on volunteers at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University have been completed. It would discharge the first group of volunteers on July 15.
- Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia has produced the vaccine. The university began clinical trials on June 18.
- On an outpatient basis, the university will be providing medical supervision to the volunteers after their discharge.
Russia has been reportedly working on 17 vaccines for COVID-19, the country’s health minister stated on July 8. Furthermore, in June, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko stated that voluntary mass vaccinations could finally begin in the fall.
Vadim Tarasov, the director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology told that the first group of volunteers would be discharged on Wednesday. Similarly, the second one would be discharged on July 20. Sechenov University tested the second group of 20 volunteers for COVID-19 vaccine on June 23. Consequently, the volunteers would remain under medical supervision on an outpatient basis after being discharged. The most noteworthy observation is that both the groups were forming an immune response after injections of the vaccine, a statement of the Russian Defense Ministry said.
World’s First COVID-19 Vaccine
The developers are pursuing further plans of vaccine development. The aspects include complexity of the epidemiological situation with the virus and also the possibility of increasing the production.
“We worked with this vaccine, starting with preclinical studies and protocol development. Clinical trials are also currently underway,” Vadim Tarasov, the director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology said.
“Sechenov University in a pandemic situation acted not only as an educational institution but, also as a scientific and technological research centre. Hence, it is able to participate in the creation of such important and complex products as drugs,” Tarasov added.
Vaccine Trials
In vaccine trials, the first phase usually entails a small group of people. Its objective is to test the vaccine’s safety for humans. Furthermore, the subsequent phases expand testing significantly to determine whether the vaccine is safe for mass production.
“We haven’t observed any serious adverse reactions in the trials. There are a few predictable side effects related directly to the vaccine’s inoculation. This is a so-called systemic and local post-vaccine reaction which is mild and disappears on its own without any additional measures. As a result, the volunteers are in good health,” Smolyarchuk, head of the Center for Clinical Research on Medications at Sechenov University said.
