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MOSCOW: Comments from a senior US official and Britain’s moves toward possible acceleration of COVID-19 vaccines show that the West now accepts that Russia was right to approve a vaccine in August, a Russian official said Monday.
Russia granted regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine this month after less than two months of human testing, prompting some Western experts to question its safety and efficacy.
Since then, the head of the US Food and Drug Administration has said that he would be willing to bypass the normal approval process to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine as long as officials were convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks.
Last week, the British government established plans that would allow the British medical regulator to grant a temporary authorization for any coronavirus vaccine before receiving a full license if it meets safety and quality standards.
The United States and London were now “exactly following Russia’s lead,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has been heavily involved in Russia’s vaccine program.
READ: Scientists see downsides of Russia, China’s major COVID-19 vaccines
“The Western world was shocked by Russia’s success (in producing a potential vaccine) and had to go through four stages to accept the inevitable: denial, anger, depression and ultimately acceptance,” he said in a statement. .
“Recent statements show that we have passed the stage of depression and now it has been accepted that Russia’s approach is the correct one.”
Russia has now begun phase III trials of the “Sputnik V” vaccine that will test its efficacy in a larger group of volunteers. It is also preparing to approve a second COVID-19 vaccine in late September or early October.
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko has said that mass vaccination of high-risk groups will begin in November-December.
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