Russia approves second virus vaccine after early trials

Russian authorities have given regulatory approval to a second coronavirus vaccine after early-st studies, two months after a similar move prompted widespre criticism from scientists both at home and abro.

Russian President Vlimir Putin me anuncement on Wednesday, during a televised meeting with government officials.

“We w need to increase production of first vaccine and second vaccine,” Putin said, ding that priority was to supply Russian market with vaccines.

peptide-based, two-shot vaccine, EpiVacCorona, was developed by Vector Institute in Siberia and tested among 100 volunteers in early-st, placebo-controlled human trials, which lasted more than two months and were completed two weeks ago. volunteers were between 18 and 60 years old.

scientists have yet to publish results of study. In comments to media, scientists developing vaccine said that it produced eugh antibodies to protect person who h it from virus and that immunity it creates could last for up to six months.

An vanced study involving tens of thousands of volunteers that is necessary to establish safety and effectiveness of vaccine was scheduled to start in vember or December.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who said earlier this week she took part in early trials as a volunteer, said Wednesday that 40,000 people will take part in vance studies of EpiVacCorona. It remained unclear wher vaccine would be offered for a wider use while trials are still ongoing.

Russia's first vaccine, Sputnik V, was developed by Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute and approved by government on Aug. 11, after early trials among 76 volunteers were completed. Just like on Wednesday, Putin personally broke news on national television and said one of his daughters h alrey been vaccinated, experienced slight side effects and developed antibodies.

As Russia boasted about being first in world to approve a vaccine, experts said that in line with established scientific protocol, much broer studies among tens of thousands of people were needed to ensure safety and effectiveness of vaccine before it is given widely.

Russian health authorities anunced vanced trials of Sputnik V among 40,000 volunteers two weeks after it received government approval. Officials also said that vaccination of risk groups, such as doctors and teachers, will be carried out in parallel to studies.

Golikova said Wednesday that 13,000 volunteers have so far enrolled in studies of Sputnik V vaccine.

international criticism didn't stop Russia from promoting Sputnik V abro. Kirill Dmitriev, he of Russian Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled effort, said last month that fund alrey has agreements with Mexico, India and Brazil, which ordered a total of 200 million doses, and dozens of or countries are interested in getting vaccine.

Speaking at this year's U.N. General Assembly, Putin offered to provide Sputnik-V vaccine to U.N. staff for free. He described offer as a response to popular demand: “Some colleagues from U.N. have asked about this, and we will t remain indifferent to m.” Russia has world's fourth largest coronavirus caselo with over 1.3 million infections. It has also reported over 23,000 deaths.

outbreak in country appeared to slow down in summer, but number of new infections started to grow rapidly last month. Over past 11 days, Russian health officials have been reporting over 10,000 new cases every day. y registered a record number of 14,231 new cases on Wednesday.