Russia (Sputnik), Sep. 25 – The first officially registered vaccine against COVID19, developed by the Russian Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (GSRI), is now undergoing post-registration trials involving around 42,000 people around the world.
Speaking in the interview on Q&A of Sputnik V COVID19 vaccine, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said since the launch of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID19 vaccine on 11 August 2020, Russia has seen immense interest and expressions of hope from many countries and has received requests for 1 billion doses of the vaccine.
The vaccine uses a unique two-vector human adenovirus technology, which no one else in the world currently has for COVID19. Vectors are engineered viruses, unable to reproduce, which carry genetic material from the spike of coronavirus. This technology helps to overcome pre-existing immunity to adenoviruses. Russia has benefitted from modifying for COVID19, an existing two-vector vaccine platform developed in 2015 for Ebola fever, which went through all phases of clinical trials and was used to defeat the Ebola epidemic in Africa in 2017.
Phase 1-2 clinical trials of Sputnik V showed no serious adverse events for any of the criteria, while the incidence of serious adverse events for other candidate vaccines ranged from 1 to 25 percent. In 100 percent of participants in the clinical trials, Sputnik V generated a stable humoral and cellular immune response. The level of virus-neutralizing antibodies of volunteers vaccinated with Sputnik V was 1.5 times higher than the level of antibodies of severe COVID19 patients who had recovered from COVID19.
Specialists from the GSRI managed to prove the effectiveness of the human adenoviral vectors platform, despite concerns that vaccinated people could have pre-existing immunity to human adenoviruses. The optimal safe dosage has been determined, which allows an effective immune response to be achieved in 100 percent of those vaccinated in trials, even in those who have recently had an adenovirus infection.
Director for Europe at the WHO Hans Kluge, after the recent meeting with Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko, said “The WHO greatly appreciates the efforts that the Russian Federation has made to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, namely Sputnik V. Once again, I want to thank Russia for its excellent efforts to create a safe and effective vaccine. Now Russia has started the third phase of vaccine testing, when the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine will be tested on a very large group of people. I am sure these results will be positive.”
Read the full interview of the RDIF’s CEO Kirill Dmitriev at: sputniknews.com/columnists/202009071080382164-questions-on-russias-sputnik-v-vaccine-answered/
=FRESH NEWS
