Hope for the vaccine coming from the East? Russia announced Wednesday that it has completed first clinical trials of a human-tested coronavirus vaccine, which must be fully completed by the end of July.
Carried out by the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Nikolai Gamaleia Research Center in Epidemiology and Microbiology, these trials began in mid-June in a prestigious military hospital in Moscow on a group of volunteers mainly comprising Russian soldiers, but also civilians. The first group of 18 volunteers "ended their participation and left the hospital," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
"No serious adverse effects or complications have been recorded"
The main task for this group was to verify the safety of the vaccine and the tolerance of the human body to its components, according to the same source. The volunteers spent 28 days in the hospital after the June 18 vaccination, which is subject to daily checkups.
During this period, the vital functions of their organism remained "within the limits of normal", without "any serious adverse effects or complications have been recorded," said the statement. "Their immunity is good, antibodies are being formed and they are protected against the coronavirus," said Svetlana Voltchikhina, medical therapist who co-directs the trials, in a video released by the Ministry of Defense.
Clinical trials to be completed by end of July
"We now know that we are 100% protected, and we are not afraid to get out of here," said leaving the Iouri hospital, a contract soldier who participated in the tests, quoted in the video. A second group of 20-person volunteers, who were vaccinated on June 23, are currently in solitary confinement at the hospital under medical supervision, the statement said.
Clinical trials of the vaccine are expected to be fully completed by the end of July, he added. Russia has 746,369 cases of coronavirus, including 11,770 deaths, according to official figures on Wednesday.
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