Russia’s Second Coronavirus Vaccine Approved after Preliminary Trials

MOSCOW, KOMPAS.com – Russia has granted regulatory approval to a second coronavirus vaccine, according to its register of authorized medicines.

A delighted President Vladimir Putin announced the coronavirus vaccine progress update at a government meeting on Wednesday.

The second coronavirus vaccine from Russia was developed by the Vector Institute in Siberia and completed early-stage human trials last month.

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However, results of the Covid-19 vaccine have yet to be published and a large-scale trial, known as Phase 3, has not yet begun.

"We need to increase the production of the first and second vaccine," Putin said in comments broadcast on state TV.

"We are continuing to cooperate with our foreign partners and will promote our vaccine abroad."

The peptide-based coronavirus vaccine, named EpiVacCorona, is the second to be licensed for use in Russia.

There has been a placebo-controlled trial on 100 volunteers between 18 and 60 in Novosibirsk.

A shot developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, Sputnik V, was licensed for domestic use in August.

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That vaccine, based on an adenovirus vector, was also registered before Phase 3 trials. A trial involving 40,000 participants is now underway in Moscow.

A large-scale human trial of EpiVacCorona is likely to begin in November or December, the TASS news agency cited the consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, which oversees the institute, as saying this month.

The trial for Russia's second coronavirus vaccine is expected to involve 30,000 volunteers, of whom the first 5,000 will be residents of Siberia, according to the Interfax news agency.

Hundreds of people in professions that put them at high risk of coronavirus infection have now also received the Gamaleya jab, according to the health ministry, but the vaccine is not yet in general use.