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Eighteen volunteers vaccinated against coronavirus at Moscow’s Medical University

Results of the clinical trials of the novel coronavirus vaccine are expected by August, according to official data

MOSCOW, June 18./TASS/. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University) has launched clinical trials of a vaccine against coronavirus. Eighteen volunteers have been vaccinated, Director of the university’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology, Vadim Tarasov, said on Thursday.

"Study of a vaccine against the coronavirus infection was launched at Sechenov University of the Russian Ministry of Health. Thirty-eight volunteers take part in it, of whom 18 were vaccinated today. The vaccination of another 20 people is scheduled for the next week," the press service of the Ministry of Health cited him as saying.

The volunteers will remain at a clinic of the university’s Center of Interventional Cardio-Angiology within 28 days under the control of medics. The male and female participants are aged 18 to 65 and come from different Russian cities. The vaccination is carried out with their written consent and with the compliance with all requirements of the Russian law and international rules of ethics.

"It is very important for us to study how efficiently the immunity develops. If after the vaccination the person remains in their habitual environment, a high risk remains amid the pandemic, and later it will be impossible to say what caused the immunity — the disease or the vaccine. For this, the volunteers stay at a clinic within 28 days, where they are isolated from other social contacts," the press service quotes Tarasov as saying.

Results of the clinical trials of the novel coronavirus vaccine, developed by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, are expected by August. Then the ministry will assess the results and will decide on whether it will be possible to use the vaccine.

According to the latest statistics, over 8,300,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 446,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 4,440,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe. To date, 561,091 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 313,963 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 7,660 fatalities nationwide.