Russia first nation to successfully complete human trials of coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine

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Moscow: As the world reels under the rising COVID-19 cases, Russia's Sechenov University has successfully completed the world's first clinical trials of coronavirus vaccine on humans, media reports said on Sunday (July 12, 2020).

The director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology Vadim Tarasov confirmed the development to Sputnik news. 

"Sechenov University has successfully completed tests on volunteers of the world`s first vaccine against coronavirus," Tarasov said.

He said the university had began clinical trials of the vaccine on June 18. The first group of volunteers would be discharged on Wednesday and the second on July 20. The vaccine has been produced by Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia.

"The data obtained by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, proves that volunteers of the first and second groups are forming an immune response after injections of the vaccine against the coronavirus," an earlier statement of the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The director of the Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical and Vector-Borne Diseases at Sechenov University Alexander Lukashev said the safety of this vaccine, in correspondance with the safety of other medicines available in the market, is confirmed. 

With this Russia has become the first nation to complete human clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine and the results prove the medication`s effectiveness.

However, there was no further information on when this vaccine would enter the commercial production stage.

There are at least 21 vaccines currently under key trials, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

As of Sunday morning, the global number of COVID-19 cases stood at 12,681,472, while the death toll climbing to 564,420, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 3,245,158 and 134,764 while Brazil is in the second place with 1,839,850 infections and 71,469 deaths.