Amid rumor to develop a possible vaccine against the new coronavirus, human trials of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine began in the United Arab Emirates, the Kremlin said in a statement on Monday while detailing a phone call between President Vladimir Putin. and Abu Dhabi. Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Reuters reported.
The trials in the UAE are the second Sputnik V vaccine trials abroad, following the launch of the trials in Belarus. Similar trials are also expected to begin in Venezuela in the near future.
However, the Russian vaccine is controversial, and experts around the world question its efficacy and safety.
However, none of the 2,000 volunteers inoculated with both portions of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine have contracted the disease, the director of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology told Russia’s Sputnik news agency on Monday, refuting media reports.
The Sputnik V Covid vaccine is developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, under the Ministry of Health of Russia.
On August 11, Russia became the first country to license a Covid-19 vaccine, calling it “Sputnik V” in homage to the world’s first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. But Western experts have warned against its use until all tests and internationally approved regulatory steps have been taken. The vaccine is in phase 3 trials.
The vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants in the early-stage trials, according to results previously published by The Lancet medical journal that were hailed by Moscow as a response to its critics.
Results from the two trials, conducted in June-July this year and involving 76 participants, showed that 100% of the participants developed antibodies to the new coronavirus and no serious side effects, The Lancet said.
However, a group of international scientists questioned the results of the Lancet medical journal, saying that some of the findings seemed unlikely, Bloomberg reported.
The researchers raised concerns about seemingly identical levels of antibodies in several study participants who were inoculated with the experimental vaccine. This and other patterns in the data present “several different points of concern,” according to an open letter written by Temple University professor Enrico Bucci and signed by more than a dozen other scientists.
Meanwhile, Russia has recorded 13,592 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from Sunday’s record of 13,634, bringing the cumulative total of cases to 1,312,310, the coronavirus response center said Monday. country.
With contributions from the agency
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