Russia strikes global deals to make, sell coronavirus vaccine
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Russia has signed manufacturing and supply agreements for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate with over 10 countries in Asia, South America and the Middle East, as Moscow speeds up plans to distribute its shot abroad in the fight against the coronavirus.
Russia was the first country to grant regulatory approval for a novel coronavirus vaccine, and did so before large-scale trials were complete, stirring concern among scientists and doctors about the safety and efficacy of the shot.
A human trial involving 40,000 people began in Moscow in early September and is currently ongoing. Results are expected this month.
VACCINE: The vaccine is being developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Research Institute and marketed by Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). Named Sputnik V in reference to the world’s first satellite, and what Moscow sees as its success at becoming the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine. It is administered in two doses and consists of two serotypes of a human adenovirus, each carrying an S-antigen of the new coronavirus, that enter human cells and produce an immune response. The platform used for the vaccine was developed by Russian scientists over two decades and had formed the basis for several vaccines in the past, including those against Ebola.
TIMELINE: Russia plans to share preliminary results of its COVID-19 vaccine trial based on the first six weeks of monitoring participants. The first of 5,000 volunteers was vaccinated on Sept. 9, which means interim results could be issued some time after Oct. 21. Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has invested in the vaccine’s roll-out, has said it expects interim results to be published in October or November. Russia is aiming for the vaccine to be about 75% more effective than a placebo that is above the 50% threshold for COVID-19 vaccines set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
WHO’S GETTING THE VACCINE IN RUSSIA? The country launched a mass innoculation programme on Sept. 8, with plans to distribute it to teachers and medical workers etc.
DISTRIBUTION: About 400 people have been vaccinated so far under the mass innoculation programme. Outside of the trial, Russia has also begun vaccinating people in high-risk jobs, such as doctors and teachers. Around 2,500 people have been vaccinated in Moscow in this way, and an undisclosed, but small, number of others around the country. A government source told Reuters the interim Phase III trial results would likely inform a decision on whether to expand this mass inoculation drive, starting with people over 60. Russia expects to produce between 1.5 million and 2 million doses per month by the year end, gradually ramping up production to 6 million doses a month.
RDIF said more than one billion people would receive Sputnik V in 2020-21.
