Russia launches second COVID-19 vaccine, EpiVacCorona' which show positive results

After becoming the first country in the world to launch a vaccine for novel coronavirus, dubbed as ‘Sputnik V’, Russia has reported the success of its second COVID-19 vaccine in preliminary trials

According to an IANS report, the second COVID vaccine has been developed by Russia's Vector State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology and has been named ‘EpiVacCorona.’

The vaccine is said to be different from ‘Sputnik V, which was developed by Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology along with the Russian Defence Ministry.

As per preliminary reports, EpiVacCorona did not induce any side-effects in the volunteers who took the jab of the potential vaccine. It is also being reported that the vaccine induces an effective immune response after dosing the volunteers twice at the interval of 14-21 days.

As per agency reports, only one volunteer has been given two doses of EpiVacCorona, as of now.

As of now, there are more than 160 vaccine candidates in different stages of clinical trials and five of them have already reached the critical last phase human trials to battle the highly infectious coronavirus

It should be noted that the development of a safe and effective vaccine is a complex and time-taking process which usually takes 10 to 15 years. However, given the rate at which the novel coronavirus is spreading across the world, scientists and researchers are working at breakneck speed to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.

TASS news agency further reported: “All inoculated volunteers are feeling well. To date, the first vaccination was administered to 57 volunteers, while 43 received placebo." It should be noted that Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has been in the eye of the storm ever since it has received regulatory approvals.

The accelerated timeline of the development of the Russian vaccine and the absence of conclusive trials and safety data has raised questions about its safety and efficacy.

Announcing the completion of trials of the first vaccine-- Sputnik V, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the vaccine would offer “sustainable immunity” against the deadly coronavirus or Covid-19.

Russia also recently approved the first Sputnik V vaccine for public use, Large scale trials, and plans for mass vaccination in Russia are also currently underway.

Reports say, Russia is planning a large-scale trial of its “Sputnik V” vaccine involving 40,000 people.

However, concerns over its efficacy and safety have been raised by experts from all over the world.

The vaccine is made by Vector State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology, a Siberian institute that is one of only two places in the world permitted to keep stocks of deadly smallpox. The other is in the USA.

A former top-secret Soviet biological weapons research plant, Vector has worked on developing 13 possible vaccines for coronavirus which were tested on laboratory animals.

Vector was once a key facility in the secret and illegal Soviet biological weapons programme. t produced smallpox on an industrial scale, while also weaponising deadly Marburg, after being set up in 1973 by USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev, say reports.

Moscow was criticised for rushing to register its first vaccine Sputnik V on August 11 to be first in the world.

But it was registered without stage three clinical tests and amid reports of many side effects among the small number of 'volunteers' - including serving army soldiers - who tested it.

These included swelling, pain, hyperthermia - a high body temperature, and itching at the place of injection.

Volunteers suffered physical weakness or lack of energy, malaise, fever, decreased appetite, headaches, diarrhoea, pain in the oropharynx, nasal congestion, a sore throat, and runny nose.

Putin said one of his daughters - believed to be Katerina Tikhonova - had taken the first vaccine with no ill-effects.

She had the vaccination at a very early stage of its development, it has been claimed.There was no official confirmation that she was the vaccine's recipient.Katerina, 33, uses the surname of her maternal grandmother, which for many years hid her identity as Putin's daughter.