Russia to Produce 30 Million Doses of Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine in 2020

Russia is planning to manufacture 30 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine locally in 2020 and produce an additional 170 million doses outside the country, according to a report by Reuters.

Russia claims to have created a safe vaccine against the novel coronavirus, following the completion of clinical trials by the Sechenov University (Moscow, Russia) of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by the Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (Moscow, Russia). This is the first and only Russian-made vaccine against COVID-19 shortlisted by the World Health Organization in their report on 23 clinical trials around the world.

Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), has told Reuters that a larger Phase 3 trial involving several thousand people is likely to begin in August. Dmitriev said that he Phase 3 trial would be conducted domestically as well as in two Middle Eastern countries, and will begin after a 100-person Phase 2 trial is completed on August 3. Dmitriev told Reuters that both the Sechenov University and Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology were are updating their lab setup to be able to take over production within the next couple of months. He said that countries in Latin America, the Middle East and elsewhere had expressed interest in importing the vaccine.

“We believe that based on the current results it will be approved in Russia in August and in some other countries in September..., making it possibly the first vaccine to be approved in the world,” Dmitriev said in an interview to Reuters. “There’s a general sense that for so-called herd immunity in Russia you need to vaccinate between 40 million and 50 million people. So we believe we will be in good shape producing around 30 million (doses domestically) this year and then we can finalize vaccination next year.”

Related Links:
Sechenov University
Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology