Meanwhile, U.S. health secretary Alex Azar has said any U.S. vaccine would be shared once their needs are met.
From Russia gearing up to register its COVID-19 vaccine on August 12, to US health secretary Alex Azar saying any US vaccine would be shared only after the US's needs are met, here are all the latest updates on COVID-19 vaccine and the candidates:
Russia to register the world's first COVID-19 vaccine on August 12
The Russian COVID-19 vaccine candidate, being jointly developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the country’s Defence Ministry, is set to get registered on August 12, reports suggest. This would be the first vaccine candidate against the novel coronavirus to get registered.
COVID-19 vaccine to be ready by December this year: Adar Poonawalla
Adar Poonawalla, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India (SII) said that the company would be launching a COVID-19 vaccine starting December.
"We are going to start trials in less than two weeks. The trial is in partnership with ICMR. We will start manufacturing vaccines by the end of August," Poonawalla told CNBC-TV18.
U.S.'s Azar says any U.S. vaccine would be shared once U.S. needs met
U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said that any U.S. vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 would be shared fairly with the rest of the world, once their needs have been satisfied.
"Our first priority of course is to develop and produce enough quantity of safe and effective FDA-approved vaccines and therapeutics for use in the United States," Azar told reporters while on a visit to Taiwan.
"But we anticipate having a capacity that, once those needs are satisfied, those products would be available in the world community according to fair and equitable distributions that we would consult in the international community on," he added.
Bharat Biotech Chairman says the company will not launch COVID-19 vaccine in rush as safety matters
Bharat Biotech International, the developers of India’s ‘first’ indigenous COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN, said it cannot rush to launch the drug as safety and quality are paramount.
The growing COVID-19 cases are putting pressure on the company to come out with a vaccine quickly, said a report.
“But for us, safety and quality are paramount. We don't want to kill more people with the wrong vaccine,” Ella said during an interaction with members of the Chennai International Centre on 'COVID-19 Endgame Scenarios'.
Early-stage coronavirus vaccine trial begins in Singapore
The early-stage clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine has started in Singapore, with the first vaccinations expected to be given to volunteers next week, a media report has said, as the country's coronavirus tally crossed over 55,000 on August 9.
Called Lunar-Cov19, the vaccine is developed by Duke-NUS Medical School and United States pharmaceutical company Arcturus Therapeutics, The Straits Times reported.