Vladimir Putin, Russian president, said that his government has registered the first COVID-19 vaccine for use, and that his daughter was one of those who have been inoculated.
The vaccine was developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and has reportedly passed all the necessary tests which happened over the course of approximately two months. His daughter had a slight temperature after taking the vaccine on the first day but it quickly went back to normal the following day.
Their health ministry explained that this vaccine supposedly provides immunity from COVID-19 for up to two years. Although it is voluntary to take the vaccine, the first group of people to take it will likely be medical workers, teachers and other risk groups. The Associated Press said that the large scale production of the vaccine will begin in September with mass vaccinations as early as October.
However, skepticism around the safety of the vaccine rose quickly from scientists outside Russia. It was said that the vaccine had not undergone phase 3 trials “which are considered essential to guarantee the safety of a vaccine,” wrote Business Insider. Rumors circulated that scientists at the institute were injecting themselves to speed up the process as they rushed through other tests too. Yet, this is unconfirmed as the Russian government explained the vaccine passed all the necessary trials.
The political tension between countries around the world rise around matters of discovering the best possible vaccine and perhaps this explains skepticism around Russia’s vaccine. However, various newspapers asserted that the phase 3 trials were necessary to detect any side effects, and to measure how effective the vaccine is, as per The Guardian.
Although there is a race around the creation of the first virus, “Regulators around the world have insisted that the rush to develop COVID-19 vaccines will not compromise safety. But recent surveys show growing public distrust in governments’ efforts to rapidly produce such a vaccine,” wrote The Guardian.
Essentially, so many labs and centers around the world are developing the vaccine, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has not listed this particular vaccine among the six that reached phase 3 clinical trials, as per the BBC.
Despite speculation, Putin emphasized that the vaccine works effectively, helps form strong immunity, and has passed all the necessary checkpoints.
In terms of a vaccine for Egypt, the country has signed a deal with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford. This deal will supply Egypt with massive quantities of the vaccine when it has passed all its necessary trials and checkpoints.
