Specialists of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology are completing preparations for the start of clinical trials of the domestic vaccine against coronavirus infection COVID-19. This was announced on June 3 in the press service of the department.

It is reported that the first group of volunteer servicemen arrived at a special medical institution at the 48th Central Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense to undergo examination and prepare for testing the vaccine in humans.

The selection of candidates was carried out among those serving under the contract. One of the requirements for participating in the experiment was the absence of chronic diseases that could impede clinical trials. A total of 50 volunteers were selected, including five women.

“There are ten medical workers among the selected volunteers, including three doctors,” said the head of the Main Military Clinical Hospital named after Burdenko, Major General of the Medical Service Evgeny Kryukov.

“For all participants, this study is an honor and an opportunity to assist the state in combating a dangerous disease,” the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper quotes Kryukova.

As explained in the Ministry of Defense, in order to exclude the possibility of infection of volunteers and medical staff COVID-19, before the start of research, they will be isolated for 14 days. During this period they will be continuously tested for the absence of coronavirus.

It is noted that the vaccine has already been tested for toxicity, safety, immunogenicity and protective efficacy in large and small animals. The head of the 48th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, the colonel of the medical service, Sergey Borisevich, explained that we are talking about monkeys and hamsters.

“The preclinical trials demonstrated the development of full-fledged immunity to the virus in experimental animals after the introduction of the vaccine,” said Borisevich.

The upcoming study should determine the safety and tolerability of the vaccine, and most importantly - its immunogenicity, that is, the ability to cause the body to produce protective antibodies to COVID-19.

According to Sergey Borisevich, according to the plan, clinical trials of the vaccine should be completed by the end of July.

Vaccine development in Russia

The day before, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said that mass vaccination against COVID-19 in Russia could begin in the fall if work on the drug was successful.

“As you know, work on the vaccine is in full swing, we are really looking forward to the results, and experts say that if successful, mass vaccination can already be started in the fall, but for now we all need to learn how to live with the risks that the infection poses,” leads RIA Novosti words Chernyshenko.

As Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on May 20, in Russia at that time, 47 vaccines against coronavirus were being developed. 3.1 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget for the development of test systems and vaccines.

As the vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Chekhonin noted during an online meeting of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, the vaccine developed by scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Lomonosov Moscow State University was given for preclinical tests at the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which WHO included in the list of promising ones. He noted that three prototypes of this multivalent vaccine were created and their safety for laboratory animals was previously demonstrated.

In addition, Chekhonin said that the Institute of Experimental Medicine is conducting preclinical trials of a vaccine against COVID-19, which can be taken as a fermented milk product.

“The target for cloning is a gene encoding the coronavirus S-protein (the protein by which coronavirus infects a healthy cell. - RT). As a result, the gene is introduced into the coding region of the surface villi of the probiotic bacterium and a bacterium is formed with the immunogenic protein of the virus on the surface. This vaccine can be administered as a fermented milk product, ”TASS quoted Chekhonin as saying.

The vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences also mentioned work on a vaccine that blocks the interaction of COVID-19 with epithelial cells. According to him, preclinical trials of the drug are carried out by military doctors in St. Petersburg.

According to the latest data, 432,277 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were detected in Russia. Since the beginning of the epidemic, 195 957 (45.3%) patients have recovered in the country. From the complications that developed against the background of coronavirus infection and concomitant diseases, 5215 people died (1.2%).