A Russian university has successfully completed human trials of the first Covid-19 vaccine on volunteers, Sputnik news agency reported quoting an official.
The Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University began clinical trials of the vaccine produced by Russia's Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology on June 18.
"Sechenov University has successfully completed tests on volunteers of the world''s first vaccine against coronavirus," Vadim Tarasov, the director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology, said. The first group of volunteers would be discharged on Wednesday and the second on July 20, he added.
According to Alexander Lukashev, the director of the Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical and Vector-Borne Diseases at Sechenov University, the objective of this stage of the study was to show the vaccine''s safety for human health, which was successfully done.
'Safety of the vaccine is confirmed'
"The safety of the vaccine is confirmed. It corresponds to the safety of those vaccines that are currently on the market," Lukashev told Sputnik.
The further vaccine development plan is already being determined by the developer's strategy, including the complexity of the epidemiological situation with the virus and the possibility of scaling up production, Lukashev added.
"Sechenov University in a pandemic situation acted not only as an educational institution but also as a scientific and technological research center that is able to participate in the creation of such important and complex products as drugs ... We worked with this vaccine, starting with preclinical studies and protocol development, and clinical trials are currently underway," Tarasov noted.
The development comes at a crucial time of the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic as cases are again increasing sharply in a few countries, while others like India and Brazil are witnessing an increasing number of cases every single day.
(With agency inputs)
