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Coronavirus pandemic

Clinical trial of Russia’s anti-coronavirus vaccine to begin on June 1

By May 31, a whole range of preclinical studies will be completed

© Yegor Aleyev/TASS

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MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. The clinical trial of the Russian Health Ministry’s vaccine against the coronavirus is set for June 1, Director of the Gamaleya National Epidemiology and Microbiology Research Center Alexander Gintsburg told a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"As for those figures that we will hear now, I ask you to consider them as preliminary rather than final figures. It’s clear that they can change. <...> By May 31, a whole range of preclinical studies will be completed and clinical trials will be launched on June 1," he said.

Gintsburg thanked Putin for the possibility to carry out both clinical and preclinical trials simultaneously since this significantly steps up the work. Under a favorable scenario, the vaccine could be registered by June 15.

As of now, a facility certified by GNP and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, part of the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, will be able to produce nearly 60,000 doses of this medicine, he noted.

To date, a total of 47,121 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 3,446 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 405 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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