On 12 July, the Russian Embassy in India tweeted that Sechenov University has successfully completed tests on volunteers for the ‘world’s first vaccine against COVID-19’. Chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk told TASS news agency, “The vaccine is safe. The volunteers will be discharged on July 15 and July 20.”
This was followed by several news reports claiming that Russia has beaten the world in developing the first coronavirus vaccine after the successful completion of all trials and the assurance of its safety in humans.
Is the Candidate From Russia the First COVID-19 Vaccine?
According to Sechenov University’s own website, no such claim about the candidate being the first coronavirus vaccine has been made. Instead, it provides information on the ongoing clinical trial of the vaccine developed by Gamaleya Institute, an epidemiology research centre in Moscow, in partnership with the Russian Defence Ministry.
The first group that received the vaccine on 18 June had 18 healthy volunteers from the armed forces. A second group of 20 participants got the vaccine on 23 June at the Practical Research Centre for Interventional Cardiovasology.
The previously enrolled volunteers will be discharged on 15 July and the second group on 20 July. This is only the first phase of the clinical trials which a vaccine needs to undergo before it reaches the masses.
Both females and males aged between 18 and 65 years were part of the trial, some of whom experienced headaches and an ‘elevated body temperature’ after getting the vaccine. However, these symptoms were resolved within 24 hours and they are all now in ‘good health’, the researchers said.
The participants are supposed to spend 28 days in isolation after the vaccine administration in order to ensure they do not get infected by another pathogen. During this period, they will be provided with both psychological support as well as sports facilities for their physical health. Post discharge, they will be monitored for six or more months.
The Front-Runners in the COVID-19 Vaccine Race
It must be noted that over 155 vaccine candidates are in development right now around the world, and around 22 out of them are currently undergoing human trials.
Oxford University and the US Biotech company Moderna appear to be at the forefront of the vaccine race. For a vaccine to get approved for use, it is usually tested on nearly 10,000 people for its safety and efficacy over various phases of trials.
In that respect, Russia’s vaccine trial on 38 volunteers is part of its phase 1. We cannot claim that it has completed its human trials based on merely this development. At least two more phases are still to be conducted to check the immune response that the vaccine triggers in humans and decide its appropriate dose.
The report in TASS mentions that the phase 1 clinical trials would end by 15 July and the second would begin on 13 July.
FIT has explained the various stages of vaccine development in detail previously. You can read about them here.
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