Russia to Start 40,000 Participant Trial of COVID Vaccine Next Week

Russia will begin a phase 3 trial of its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine on 40,000 volunteers this week, Russia’s state news agency Tass announced Friday.

The controversial vaccine developed at Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute was approved for use in Russia on Aug. 11 although it had yet to enter a late-stage trial. Healthcare workers and teachers in Russia will be able to get the vaccine while the trial is going on.

The month-long international study will enroll volunteers in Russia, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, and maybe Brazil and India.

Experts outside Russia have expressed widespread concern about the product’s safety and efficacy, although Tass quotes Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko as saying that clinical trials have proven both points.

In a study conducted at Russia’s Vector Institute, all 57 volunteers who got the vaccine were in good health afterward and suffered no serious side effects, though six were sore at the injection site for one or two days.

Virologists have warned that a vaccine that isn’t fully effective could backfire, causing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus behind the pandemic to mutate to the point that it becomes resistant to all antibodies. — Martin Berman-Gorvine