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Coronavirus pandemic

Russia may begin clinical trials of coronavirus vaccines within two weeks

Head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova pointed out that only safe and effective vaccines would reach the stage of clinical trials, but their number is not known

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. Some coronavirus vaccines developed in Russia could be tested on volunteers within the two weeks, Anna Popova, head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing said in a televised interview on Russia’s Rossiya’1 channel on Wednesday.

"I am sure that in the next two weeks, we will see several vaccines raised to a stage of clinical trials, or human test trials," she said.

Popova pointed out that only safe and effective vaccines would reach the stage of clinical trials, but their number is not known.

"Those are two mandatory features of a vaccine, of each new medication, which will allow to begin human test trials," she added.

Earlier, the Russian Health Ministry announced the start of clinical trials of two samples of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the N.F. Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. The first volunteers will be vaccinated on June 18-19.

To date, 553,301 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 304,342 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 7,478 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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