After surprising the entire world with the registration of its first potential COVID-19 vaccine in August, Russia is reportedly set to list its second COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the coming week.
Citing Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian consumer safety watchdog, news agency TASS has revealed that the second potential vaccine developed by Siberia’s Vector Institute will likely be registered on October 15th after the vaccine went through early-stage human trials last week.
Early in August, Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced to the world that his country’s first COVID-19 vaccine was registered and was subsequently administered to one of his daughters. The vaccine was later named Sputnik V to honor the nation’s remarkable achievement of launching the world’s first artificial satellite back in 1957.
The nation was unable to share any conclusive reports on the effectiveness of the vaccine as it was yet to conduct Phase 3 trials.
Shortly after the announcement of its vaccine, a top doctor in the Russian health ministry had resigned in protest of what he termed ‘gross violations’ in the process of developing the vaccine.
The registration and subsequent administration to the public attracted a lot of criticism from the international medical community which issued warnings against its use before all internationally accepted testing and regulatory action was taken.
Reports revealed that countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico and Brazil had expressed their interest in obtaining the vaccine.
Later, the Russian health ministry had claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine offered lasting immunity from the coronavirus for up to two years.
