First Russian volunteers inoculated with China's COVID-19 vaccine

On Monday, Russian pharmaceutical company Petrovax launched phase 3 clinical trials of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Cancino Biologics Ad5-nCoV, on the first group of Russian volunteers in Moscow. Back in March, Ad5-nCOV was the first vaccine to undergo clinical trials on humans in China, and phases 1 and 2 were conducted domestically.

Last month, the Russian company first shared with Sputnik its plans to carry out late-stage clinical trials of the Chinese vaccine candidate. In a statement obtained by Sputnik, the company said, "Petrovax, CanSino Biologics Inc. and the contract research organization OCT Clinical have launched vaccinations of the first volunteers in Moscow treatment centers."

According to the company, the first volunteers are doing well.

"None of them showed any undesirable effects. According to clinical regulations, study participants will be under direct supervision during the first 28 days after vaccination and will have to undergo four interim face-to-face examinations," Petrovax underlined.

During the trials, the vaccinated participants will develop a humoral and cellular immune response to COVID-19, the company forecasted. Petrovax said it would continue to recruit volunteers. Over 3,000 applications were received so far.

Once the Chinese vaccine is registered in Russia, Petrovax will be able to produce it at its facilities in the Moscow Region.

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Earlier, China even inoculated its medical workers with one of the four vaccines being tested in the country, as per local media reports. The medical workers were given the vaccine under the emergency use programme launched in July. Wu, during the interview, also said that she took the vaccine herself and so far hasn't experienced any adverse effects from it. Wu, who is an official with China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), did not specify which vaccine she took.

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Vaccine development across the globe

Meanwhile, there are currently more than 110 COVID-19 vaccines being developed across the world, which are in various stages of development. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the most advanced candidate among these was AstraZeneca's AZD1222, which it was developing in partnership with Oxford University. The vaccine, however, suffered a set back last week after the makers had to stop trials because a volunteer fell ill. The trials have resumed again with a hope that it will be ready by the end of 2020 or by January next year. 

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(With Inputs from ANI)