Amid the race for a possible vaccine against the novel coronavirus, Russia has been in the news for developing the “world’s first Covid-19 vaccine,” Sputnik V and now, a government official said they were having “a close dialogue. “with India in the local manufacture of the vaccine.
Kirill Dmitriev, executive director of the Russian Fund for Direct Investment, said today: “We are having a close dialogue with the relevant ministries and the Indian government and its main manufacturers regarding the location of the production of the Sputnik V vaccine,” reported the ANI news agency.
Dmitriev also mentioned that around 60% of all vaccines in the world are produced in India, adding that he recognizes India’s potential in producing Covid-19 vaccines in multiples.
“We recognize the potential of India to become a support for the production of the vaccine not only in the Indian markets but also for other countries and we have reached certain agreements with the leading companies,” he reported.
Previously, the Indian Ministry of Health had also said that India was in discussion with Russia about the Sputnik-V covid-19 vaccine lines.
“Regarding the Sputnik-5 vaccine, India and Russia are in communication. Some initial information has been shared,” said Rajesh Bhushan, secretary of the Union Ministry of Health.
Russia had recently registered its Sputnik V vaccine and is now in the phase III trial of the vaccine, which involved more than 40,000 people at more than 45 medical centers in Russia, the TASS news agency previously reported.
According to a previous report, Russia is seeking a partnership with India to produce the Covid-19 vaccine.
Nicknamed Sputnik V, the vaccine is developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Ministry of Defense. Russia registered the vaccine after less than two months of human testing.
Meanwhile, the Russian Covid-19 vaccine induced an antibody response in all participants in the first trials and found no serious adverse effects, according to early peer-reviewed data on the project’s studies.
The vaccine also produced a response in T cells, a type of white blood cell that helps the immune system destroy infection, according to preliminary results from phase 1 and 2 trials published Friday in the Lancet medical journal. Russian officials had previously made very similar claims about the shooting, before it was reviewed by outside experts.
The trials, which took place in two Russian hospitals and involved 76 healthy adults ages 18 to 60, used a two-part vaccine with two different human adenoviruses, pathogens related to the common cold, to carry the antigen. to the body. All participants received the vaccine, without a control group, one of several limitations of the trials cited in the report.
The researchers took convalescent plasma from 4,817 people who had recovered from mild or moderate Covid-19 to compare post-vaccination immunity with natural immunity. Antibody responses were higher in those vaccinated, according to the data.
In addition, a phase 3 trial was approved on August 26 for 40,000 volunteers of different ages and risk groups.
“Immunogenicity bodes well, although nothing can be inferred about immunogenicity in older age groups, and the clinical efficacy of any Covid-19 vaccine has not yet been demonstrated,” said Naor Bar-Zeev, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a linked comment in The Lancet. “Showing safety will be crucial with Covid-19 vaccines, not only for vaccine acceptance, but also for confidence in vaccination in general.”
With contributions from agencies
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