Russia says that it¡¯s about to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, with mass vaccinations planned as early as October, using shots that have yet to complete clinical trials.?
However,?scientists worldwide are sounding the alarm that the headlong rush could backfire.?In April, President Vladimir Putin ordered state officials to shorten the time of clinical trials for a variety of drugs, including potential coronavirus vaccines.
?According to Russia's Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, the order set an unattainable bar for scientists who, as a result, "joined in on the mad race, hoping to please those in power.?"?
According toreports, Russian Deputy Health Minister, Oleg Gridnev, revealed that the countrywill register the world¡¯s first vaccine against the novel coronavirus on August 12. The chief of the lab developing the vaccine disclosed how the vaccine willwork against the SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes COVID-19.
Also Read: Russia To Reportedly Register World's First COVID-19 Vaccine On August 12
AlexanderGintsburg, director of the Gamaleya National Research Centre, claimed that? researchers at the Gamaleya instituteincluding Director Alexander Gintsburg, have tested the vaccine on themselves.
AlexanderGintsburg, has said that the vaccines were tested on the researchers prior tothe human trials, giving birth to a controversy.
The RussianAssociation of Clinical Research Association (RACRA) slammed this method saying ?it was a ¡°crude violation of the veryfoundations of clinical research, Russian law and universally acceptedinternational regulations.¡±
AlexanderGintsburg also claimed that ?coronavirusparticles used in the anti-COVID-19 vaccine cannot harm the body, reported?Sputnik?newsagency.?
According to the Gamaleya center¡¯s head, the drug used inanimateparticles created on the basis of adenovirus and there are no concerns that thevaccine could potentially cause harm to a person¡¯s health.
¡°Theparticles and objects that can reproduce their own kind are the ones that areconsidered alive. The particles in question cannot multiply,¡± Gintsburg wasquoted as saying.
The vaccine, which has been developed jointly by the GamaleyaResearch Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry, is set to get officialregistration this week amid its final phase of testing. The vaccine beganclinical trials on June 18.?Gridnev had said that the effectiveness of thevaccine will be decided?when the population has developed an immunity.
¡°Somepeople naturally have a fever when the immune system of the person beingvaccinated receives a powerful boost but this "side-effect" caneasily be overcome by taking paracetamol,¡± Gintsburg furtheradded.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease specialist,questioned the fast-track approach saying, ¡°I do hope that the Chinese and theRussians are actually testing a vaccine before they are administering thevaccine to anyone, because claims of having a vaccine ready to distributebefore you do testing I think is problematic at best," he said.
Also Read: As Human Trials Complete In Russia, Doctors & Teachers First In Line For COVID-19 Vaccine
Human studiesstarted on June 17 with 76 volunteers. Half were injected with a vaccine inliquid form and the other half with a vaccine that came as soluble powder. The World Health Organization said allvaccine candidates should go through full stages of testing before being rolledout.
All Inputs PTI