Doctors and teachers will be the first people to benefit from the first potential vaccine that will be launched by Russia in October this year.
This comes at a time when the speed at which Russia plans to give out its potential vaccine sparks concerns over whether Moscow prioritizes national prestige over health and safety.
Russian health officials are planning a mass vaccination campaign against coronavirus for October, local media houses reported on Saturday.
Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the Gamaleya Institute – a state research facility, had completed clinical trials of an adenovirus-based vaccine.
According to the health minister, the paperwork was already underway to register the drug.
“We plan wider vaccinations for October,” Murashko said, adding that doctors and teachers would be the first to be treated.
Murashko said 800 people would take part in stage three trials, and at the same time production would begin, resulting in “large-scale production and large-scale application,” Murashko said according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
The much-anticipated vaccine will get its local regulatory approval in August and it will be administered to health workers soon thereafter, Reuters reported, citing an anonymous source.
The speed at which Russia is rolling out its first potential COVID-19 vaccine has however raised questions whether Moscow is undermining health and safety risk at the cost of winning the race to uncover the first successful COVID-19 vaccine.
At the moment more than 100 possible vaccines are being developed across the globe to try to fight the coronavirus. According to the data produced by the World Health Organization, at least four vaccines are in the final stage three human trails.
Moscow’s vaccine is still in its phase two, which is expected to be completed by August 3 and it will be done at the same time medical workers get vaccinated.
CNN reported that the Russian vaccine will require an additional shot, which is unlike a lot of vaccines.
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Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which funded the vaccine research, compared the vaccine campaign to Russia beating the US in launching the first successful satellite in 1957.
“It’s a Sputnik moment,” he said.
Russian scientists at Gamaleya Institute said the vaccine was developed quickly since it was based on modified vaccines that are being used for different diseases.
Health officials said the vaccine data would available for review and publication in early September.
