Coronavirus vaccine update | Russia to begin mass vaccination campaign in October

In good news amid the surging novel coronavirus infection, Russia is preparing for a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus infection in October. Russia is the first country to complete the human clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine.

According to Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, the Gamaleya Institute, a state research facility in Moscow, had completed clinical trials of the vaccine and paperwork is being prepared to register it, reported news agency Reuters citing Interfax.

The Gamaleya Institute has been working on an adenovirus-based vaccine, said the report.

The minister reportedly said doctors and teachers would be the first to be vaccinated.

“We plan wider vaccinations for October,” Murashko was quoted as saying.

Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

Russia’s first potential COVID-19 vaccine would secure local regulatory approval in August and be administered to health workers soon thereafter, said the report citing sources.

More than 6.8 lakh people have died of COVID-19 globally and 1.78 crore tested positive for the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

In a bid to stop the pandemic, many countries are trying to develop the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 100 possible vaccines are being developed around the world to try to stop the contagion. Of these, at least four are in final Phase-III human trials, including three developed in China and another in Britain, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) data.