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The information is already agitating the research world, and raising both hope and skepticism, at a time when the world, and in particular Europe, fear a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic. On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had developed the "first" vaccine against the virus, assuring that it gave "lasting immunity". But the World Health Organization has been very cautious after the announcement, as the vaccine race continues in several countries. Europe 1 takes stock of the situation.
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1. What did Vladimir Putin announce?
The Russian president assures us that his country has developed the "first" vaccine against the coronavirus. "I know it is quite effective, that it gives lasting immunity," he added. To reinforce his point, he even said that one of his daughters had been inoculated with the vaccine. "She participated in the experiment," he said, claiming that she had had a little temperature after the two inoculations, "and that's it".
Vladimir Putin claims #Russia has developed the first #COVID19 #vaccine, “Sputnik V”.
The president even indicated that one of his daughters had been inoculated pic.twitter.com/tDNufNVrnf
2. What do we know about this vaccine?
The vaccine was developed by the Nikolai Gamaleia Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, together with the Russian Ministry of Defense. For its part, the Ministry of Health affirmed that the double inoculation "made it possible to form a long immunity", estimating that it could last "two years". Mikhaïl Mourachko, Minister of Health, finally indicated that "clinical trials on several thousand people will continue".
One of the first consequences of this discovery should be the vaccination of medical personnel. The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of health issues, Tatiana Golikova, said she hoped to start it in the coming weeks. "We really hope that September, or even late August-early September, the vaccine is produced and the first category to be vaccinated will be medical personnel," she said according to Russian agencies. Teachers should also be among the first to be vaccinated. According to the National Medicines Register of the Ministry of Health, consulted by Russian news agencies, the vaccine will be put into circulation on January 1, 2021 in the population.
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This vaccine is viral vector, that is to say it uses as a carrier another virus that has been transformed and adapted to fight Covid-19. It uses adenovirus, a technology also chosen by the University of Oxford. In addition, a second vaccine is being designed at the State Research Center Vektor (in Siberia) and is also the subject of clinical trials to be completed in September.
3. When will industrial production start?
The sovereign wealth fund involved in its development indicated that the vaccine had been baptized "Sputnik V", in reference to the Soviet satellite, the first spacecraft to be put into orbit. Kirill Dmitriev, the head of this fund, also assured that "more than a billion doses" had been pre-ordered by 20 foreign countries, and that phase 3 of the trials began on Wednesday. If he did not specify the list of states, Kirill Dmitriev cited the "interest" of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil or even India.
The start of industrial production is scheduled for September. According to the fund, Russia is ready to produce 500 million doses per year in five countries.
4. What are the international reactions?
Reacting to Vladimir Poutine's announcement, the WHO has been cautious, recalling that the "prequalification" and approval of a vaccine go through "rigorous" procedures. "We are in close contact with the Russians and discussions are continuing. The prequalification of any vaccine goes through rigorous procedures," said Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesperson, during a video-press conference . "Prequalification includes the review and evaluation of all required safety and efficacy data collected in clinical trials," he recalled, stressing that the process would be the same for any vaccine candidate. .
In addition to the validations granted in each country by the national agencies, "WHO has put in place a prequalification process for vaccines but also for drugs. Manufacturers request WHO prequalification because it is is a kind of guarantee of quality, ”he insisted. However, so far, Russia has not published a detailed study of the results of its tests to establish the effectiveness of the products it says it has developed.
The German authorities were also skeptical. Berlin indeed expresses doubts about the "quality, effectiveness and safety" of the Russian vaccine. "There are no known data regarding the quality, efficacy and safety of the Russian vaccine," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told German regional press group RND, recalling that within the European Union, "patient safety is the top priority".
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5. Where are the other countries?
According to the WHO, 26 vaccine candidates are in the clinical trial stage (tested in humans) around the world and 139 in the pre-clinical evaluation stage. Among the 26, six had reached phase 3 of their development by the end of July. The one developed by the Russian center Gamaleïa was listed in phase 1.
For its part, Indonesia began on Tuesday to test on 1,600 volunteers another vaccine, already in phase 3. The Chinese vaccine candidate, developed by the Sinovac Biotech laboratory, called Coronavac, is one of the few vaccines to be in this phase, the last stage of clinical trials before approval. This vaccine is already being tested on 9,000 volunteers in Brazil.