- Sputnik International
Russia
The latest news and stories from Russia. Stay tuned for updates and breaking news on defense, politics, economy and more.

‘Bravo, Russia’: Medical Experts Praise World’s First Registered COVID-19 Vaccine

© Photo : Russian Direct Investment Fund, Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute / Go to the mediabankIn this handout photo released by Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, a scientist holds phials of the world's first coronavirus vaccine registered in Russia, in Moscow, Russia
In this handout photo released by Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, a scientist holds phials of the world's first coronavirus vaccine registered in Russia, in Moscow, Russia - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The new vaccine, Sputnik V, will move to Phase 3 clinical trials on tens of thousands of people next week, according to its developers from the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute.

Russia’s newly-registered COVID-19 vaccine has won praise from health experts from around the world.

Polina Stepensky, chair of the Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cancer Immunotherapy Department at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital, calls the vaccine a “great scientific breakthrough”.

“The first thing I should say to Russian scientists and Russian health professionals is ‘Bravo!’” she says about the brainchild of the Gamaleya Research Institute, which on 11 August became the world’s first vaccine against COVID-19 registered for public use.

She was echoed by Hildegund Ertl, a professor at the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Centre at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, USA.

"From what I’ve seen out there, they are probably the most promising platform", she noted.

The vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V after the first artificial satellite, uses two adapted versions of the adenovirus – which typically causes cold-like symptoms – to trigger an immune response.

Sputnik V is able to provide a more stable immunity from SARS-CoV-2 than a similar vaccine being developed at Oxford and using the chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine vector, Stepensky believes.

Data on Russian vaccine studies have not been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, something that has caused a lot of skepticism among Western academics.

© Sputnik / Vladimir Pesnya / Go to the mediabankA scientist works inside a laboratory of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology during the production and laboratory testing of a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Moscow, Russia
‘Bravo, Russia’: Medical Experts Praise World’s First Registered COVID-19 Vaccine - Sputnik International
A scientist works inside a laboratory of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology during the production and laboratory testing of a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Moscow, Russia

However, Ian Jones, a virology professor at Reading University in the United Kingdom, says that the crucial data about the Gamaleya Research Institute's vaccine shows it is safe.

"There is enough general background data on recombinant adenovirus-based vaccines to assume the vaccine itself will be safe at the usual doses", he said.

Polina Stepensky is also adamant that this critique of the vaccine is “politicised” and stems from a lack of understanding of how Russian researchers work.

“There are a lot of things in Russia that are not published by scientists, but this research exists and everything is just fine. People in the West are not used to it and view it with skepticism. You have to understand that this is the approach in Russia – this is the mentality,” she notes.

The Israeli immunologist has worked a lot with Russian peers in the past and has first-hand knowledge of Russian scientific advances because she is a medical director in a joint Russian-Israeli cluster at the Skolkovo science park.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko promised on Friday that Russia would publish information about the pre-clinical and clinical trials of the new vaccine “in the coming days”.

Some Western media have also pointed to the fact that Sputnik V is yet to pass Phase 3 clinical trials (the last phase of testing held with large groups of volunteers). The trials are expected to begin in the Moscow region next week and will include tens of thousands of people, according to the Gamaleya Institute.

“As for the criticism related to the third phase, you have to understand that Russia has simply registered the vaccine and will at the same time begin to give it to volunteers, doctors and teachers – those who, unfortunately, are most often exposed to the coronavirus,” Stepensky says.

“These people will be monitored. I know that there are mobile apps that vaccinated people will use to describe their condition in detail. These people will be tested. So basically this will be the same Phase 3 which is underway in Europe and America. This is why I do not see anything (worthy of criticism) in the actions of the Russian researchers”.

© REUTERS / THE RUSSIAN DIRECT INVESTMENT FUA handout photo provided by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) shows samples of a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, in Moscow, Russia August 6, 2020
‘Bravo, Russia’: Medical Experts Praise World’s First Registered COVID-19 Vaccine - Sputnik International
A handout photo provided by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) shows samples of a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, in Moscow, Russia August 6, 2020

According to Stepenskaya, her hospital has already asked Russia’s sovereign wealth fund (RDIF), which financed Sputnik V’s development, for permission to take part in clinical trials.

Last week, Israel’s Health Minister Yuli Edelstein showed interest in the Russian vaccine and will discuss buying it if it proves to be safe.

The RDIF says it has already received preliminary applications for more than 1 billion doses of the vaccine from 20 countries.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала