By In its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia has announced that it has approved its third vaccine for domestic use, becoming the first country with three vaccines.
The country had earlier approved two COVID-19 vaccines, including the Sputnik V shot, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, and has been approved in over 2 dozen countries across the globe.
Reuters reported that this latest development was disclosed by the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, while speaking on State TV, on Saturday, although large-scale clinical trials of the vaccine, labelled CoviVac and produced by the Chumakov Centre, is yet to commence.
“Today, Russia is the only country to have already three vaccines against COVID-19,” Mishustin said.
Recall the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in a televised government meeting, had announced the registration of its first COVID-19 vaccine in what was then seen as a step ahead of other vaccine development.
Sputnik V was approved in August and late-stage trials began in September. Mass vaccination was launched in December after preliminary trial results showed the vaccine to be 91.4% effective.
The Russian Health Minister, Mikhail Murashko had revealed that over 2 million Russians have been vaccinated with at least the first dose of Sputnik V, since then.
The rollout of a second vaccine, developed by the Vector Institute in Novosibirsk, is beginning.
The CoviVac vaccine which was produced by state-run Chumak Centre based in Moscow has employed a different method from Sputnik and EpiVacCorona, using inactive virus.
Unlike the Sputnik V vaccine, which uses a modified harmless cold virus that tricks the body into producing antigens to help the immune system prepare for a coronavirus infection, the CoviVac vaccine is a whole-virion vaccine.
The Chumakov Centre’s director, Aidar Ishmukhametov, said on Saturday, “The vaccine we have developed… reflects the whole history of Russian, as well as global, vaccine science.’’
He said that the Chumakov Centre is expecting to produce around half a million doses per month on its platforms, Ishmukhametov said on Saturday.
