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At present Russia is the fourth-worst affected country by the coronavirus and has a total of 7,70,311 cases. The country has reported a positive response from its trials and said that the test groups have shown good immune response.
Clinical trials- phase 1 and 2
The vaccine which is being developed by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology entered the first phase of clinical trials on June 18. Usually, a vaccine candidate goes through three stages, and at each step, the number of people in the trail is increased. In Phase 1, only small groups of healthy individuals receive the trial vaccine. Last week Russia announced the successful completion of Phase 1 of the vaccine. A report by Reuters says that in the first month-long human trial that ended last week, 38 people were tested. After the trial, researchers have said that the vaccine is safe for use and induced an immune response.
"The data obtained by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, proves that volunteers of the first and second groups are forming an immune response after injections of the vaccine against the coronavirus," said the Russian Defense Ministry in a statement according to media reports. The vaccine candidate has now entered phase 2 trial which is supposed to be completed by August 3, 2020. In phase 3 the vaccine candidate will be tested on a large group usually over the age of 18. The Reuters report says that it might begin in August after the phase 2 trials are over.
Can the vaccine be ready by August?
Since the phase 3 trial has not yet begun, it's hard to conclude if it will be possible for Russia to bring out the vaccine. In a report by the Russian News Agency TASS, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev said that the final (phase 3), trials the vaccine may be completed quicker than in other countries. He attributed this to the ‘existing infrastructure’ for vaccine development in the country.
There is concern that the country might be cutting corners to develop the vaccine faster than anyone. In a report by CNN, Dmitriev dismissed the issue and said that the vaccine is being developed on a proven vaccine platform "It was a vaccine against Ebola, against Mers and our scientist just substituted it with the spike of coronavirus."
Hacking charges
On Thursday, the US, UK, and Canadian governments accused Russian hackers APT29 with links to Russian intelligence of targeting organisations that are involved in developing Covid 19 vaccine. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), UK gave information about the group in an advisory and it was supported by Canadian Communication Security Establishment (CSE), the US Department for Homeland Security (DHS), the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the National Security Agency (NSA). APT29 also known as ‘the Dukes’ or ‘Cozy Bear’ attack using different techniques such as spear-phishing and custom malware known as "WellMess" and "WellMail". In a statement, the NCSC has said that ‘APT29’s campaign of malicious activity is ongoing, predominantly against government, diplomatic, think-tank, healthcare and energy targets to steal valuable intellectual property.
After the allegations on Sunday, Russia's ambassador to Britain Andrei Kelin has said that there was "no sense" in the allegations made by the UK, the US, and Canada.
"I don't believe in this story at all, there is no sense in it," said Kelin in a report by IANS