Russia has become the first nation to register a coronavirus vaccine. But, the announcement has raised a lot of questions from around the world regarding its reliability.
The reason for concern and criticism that the vaccine is receiving is that Russia has apparently not completed all the trials and has launched the vaccine anyway.
The Russian vaccine’s approval by the Health Ministry comes before trials that would normally involve thousands of participants, commonly known as a Phase III trial. Such trials are usually considered essential precursors for a vaccine to secure regulatory approval.
Scientists and researchers from reputed universities are calling it an unethical move. Francois Balloux, an expert at University College London’s Genetics Institute, calls it “a reckless and foolish decision”.
As per a Reuters report, Ballaoux said, “Any problem with the Russian vaccination campaign would be disastrous both through its negative effects on health, but also because it would further set back the acceptance of vaccines in the population.”
Danny Altmann, a professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, said the “collateral damage” from deploying any vaccine that is not yet known to be safe and effective “would exacerbate our current problems insurmountably”.
More than half a dozen drug companies are already in the process of conducting large-scale human trials for potential COVID-19 vaccines including Moderna (MRNA.O), Pfizer (PFE.N) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L)
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