Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine may be released for public use this week: Report

Russia stunned the world last month when it claimed that it has become the first country to create a vaccine for the coronavirus disease. And now, one of the country’s top officials has said that the Covid-19 vaccine will be released for civilian use as early as this week.

The vaccine “Sputnik-V” will be released for widespread use after the permission is granted for its widespread usage by the country’s health ministry, TASS Russian News Agency quoted expert Denis Logunov as saying.

“Its examination is to begin within days. Also, within days we are to obtain permission. There is a certain procedure of authorizing a batch for civilian use. It must pass the quality check of the medical watchdog Roszdravnadzor. Within days, between September 10 and 13, we are to obtain permission to release a batch of the vaccine for civilian use. Respectively, from that moment on the population will begin to be vaccinated,” Denis Logunov, deputy director for research, an associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.

The vaccine’s distribution will be carried out under the Russian health ministry’s scrutiny.

Logunov said that distribution will be prioritised for high-risk groups as the health ministry has tasked itself to protect the ones fighting the Covid-19 outbreak battle severely.

Marking another stage of progress on Friday, “Sputnik-V” produced an antibody response in all participants in early-stage trials, according to results published by The Lancet medical journal.

The two trials for “Sputnik-V” were conducted in June-July this year and involved 76 participants. The results showed 100 per cent of participants developing antibodies to the new coronavirus and no serious side effects, The Lancet said.