Russia completes phase 1 of human clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine

As the quest to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus continues across the globe, a Russian university completed the first phase of clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The clinical trials of the vaccine on volunteers at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University have been successfully completed, Vadim Tarasov, the director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology said, according to Russian news agency Sputnik.

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The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Institute, an epidemiology research centre in Moscow.

The trials were authorised by the Russian Health Ministry, and the university started running them from June 18, according to the report.

The first group of 18 volunteers would be discharged on July 15, and the second batch of 20 on July 20.

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The objective of this stage of the study was to show the vaccine's safety on humans, which was successfully done, according to Alexander Lukashev, the director of the Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical, and Vector-Borne Diseases at Sechenov University.

A further vaccine development plan is already being determined by the developer, including the complexity of the epidemiological situation with the virus and the possibility of scaling up production, Lukashev said.

Russia on Monday reported 6,537 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its overall tally to 733,699, the fourth largest reported in the world.

Authorities said 104 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 11,439.