Russian vaccine against coronavirus: WHO reacts

On Tuesday, August 11, 2020, Vladimir Putin announced that the Russian Federation had created the “first” vaccine against the new coronavirus. According to the Russian president, the vaccine gives “lasting immunity” and one of his daughters has been immunized. Its Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko indicated that “clinical experiments on several thousand people will continue”. A statement that the WHO commented on during a press video conference: “We are in direct contact with the Russians and the debates are continuing. The prequalification of any vaccine is subject to rigorous processes, ”said Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson for the WHO (World Health Organization). “Prequalification involves the review and evaluation of all required data on safety and efficacy collected during clinical trials,” he recalled, stressing that the process would be the same for any candidate for vaccination. . .

“Prequalification procedure” and “quality guarantee
In addition to the approvals granted in each country by the national agencies,” WHO has set up a prequalification process for vaccines but also for drugs. The laboratories are asking for WHO prequalification because it is a sort of quality guarantee ”, he insisted. To date, Russia has yet to release a specific study of the results of its trials to determine the effectiveness of the products it says it has developed. Last week, the WHO cast doubts when Russia said its vaccine was almost ready, recalling that any pharmaceutical product must “go through all the different trials and tests before being approved for deployment”, and not “a pharmaceutical product”.

WHO lists 26 vaccine candidates in clinical trials
For now, “it is essential to apply public health measures that work. We must continue to invest in the development of vaccines and treatments that will help us reduce transmission in the future, ”the door also said. – spoke, saying “encouraged by the speed with which certain vaccine candidates are being developed”. “We hope that some of these vaccines will prove to be safe and effective,” continued Tarik Jasarevic. According to the WHO, 26 candidate vaccines are in the clinical trial phase (tested on humans) around the world and 139 in the preclinical evaluation phase. Of these 26, six had reached phase 3 of their development by the end of July. The one developed by the Russian Gamaleïa center was registered in phase 1.

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