Last Updated : Sep 18, 2020 11:28 AM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com

Russia's coronavirus vaccine: 1 in 7 volunteers report side effect from Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine: Report

Approximately 14 percent volunteers have small complaints of weakness, muscle pain for 24 hours and an occasional increase in body temperature after being given Russia's COVID-19 vaccine

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One in seven volunteers have complained of side effects, including weakness, muscle pain and rise in body temperature, after being injected with Sputnik V -- Russia’s vaccine against COVID-19 --  according to the country’s health minister.

Mikhail Murashko, the Russian health minister, said more than 300 out of the announced 40,000 volunteers have been vaccinated with Sputnik V so far, reported state-run TASS news agency.

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Of these, approximately 14 percent volunteers have small complaints of weakness, muscle pain for 24 hours and an occasional increase in body temperature, Murashko was quoted as saying.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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However, the symptoms “level off” by the next day of administering the anti-coronavirus vaccine, the minister reportedly said.

“The complications are described in the instructions and are predictable,” he said, according to TASS.

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

On August 11, the Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology along with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), was registered by the Ministry of Health of Russia and became the world’s first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vectors platform

The vaccine has not completed phase 3 or larger clinical trials. There has been scepticism in some quarters about limited data related to the efficacy of the vaccine.

Final clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine began in Moscow earlier this month. Volunteers are expected to receive a second shot of the adenovirus-based viral vector vaccine within 21 days of the first.

The report comes at a time when the RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. have agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine in India.

Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr Reddy’s 100 million doses of the vaccine, Dr Reddy’s said in a release on September 16. The Sputnik V vaccine, which is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector platform with proven safety, is undergoing clinical trials for the coronavirus pandemic, it said.

Deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020, subject to completion of successful trials and registration of the vaccine by regulatory authorities in India, the release said.

Follow our full coverage on COVID-19 here.
First Published on Sep 18, 2020 11:15 am

tags #coronavirus #Current Affairs #Health #Russia