COVID-19 vaccine out in Russia, Putin’s daughter gets a shot

Moscow [Russia], August 11 (ANI): Shortly after announcing the first COVID-19 vaccine, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that his daughter, who was given a shot of the vaccine, had developed a slight fever but then recovered and now her antibody titers are high.
“In this sense, she took part in the experiment. After the first vaccination, she had a body temperature of 38 degrees Celsius, while the following day it was slightly over 37 degrees Celsius, that’s it. After the second injection, the second vaccination, her temperature also rose a little, and then everything cleared up, she feels good and the [antibody] titers are high”, Sputnik quoted Putin as saying.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus in December last year, various countries have been racing against time to bring the coronavirus vaccine.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), three Indian COVID-19 vaccines are in different phases of clinical testing at present.
“At the present moment, we have three Indian vaccines that are in different phases of clinical testing. The two vaccines — Bharat Biotech vaccine and DNA vaccine of Zydus Cadila have completed phase 1 and will begin phase 2 while third is Oxford vaccine,” said top ICMR scientist (Prof) Balram Bhargava.
The Oxford vaccine, being manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) got approval for phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, the Indian Council of Medical Research said on August 3.
The University of Oxford had begun the clinical trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine on humans in April. The Oxford vaccine — called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 — is made from a harmless chimpanzee virus, the university confirmed to CNN.
On May 5, The Jerusalem Post reported the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), a secretive unit that works under the Prime Minister’s Office, of confirming that the development phase of COVID-19 antibody or passive vaccine that attacks the virus and neutralises it in the body has been completed.
According to the latest global update by the Johns Hopkins University, a total number of 20,092,855 people have been tested positive of coronavirus and 736,254 deaths have been reported so far.
The World Health Organisation had declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on March 11.

Canada health official says ‘no’ to Russian COVID-19 vaccine due to lack of data

The Russian novel coronavirus vaccine will likely not be approved in Canada at this time, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Howard Njoo told reporters on Tuesday, citing lack of data.
Earlier in the day, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia became the first country in the world to register a novel coronavirus vaccine.
“No, I do not think so. Far too much information is missing,” Njoo said regarding the possibility Canada may approve the Russian vaccine.
Njoo said he found the approval of the vaccine in Russia “surprising” given the testing timelines – from initial discovery to approval – that Canadian scientists and experts use.
Canada‘s Chief Public Health Officer Dr Theresa Tam said the developments to produce a vaccine are exciting and she continues to work with counterparts abroad.
Russian officials said the country is capable of producing 500 million doses of the vaccine in the next 12 months, with production expected to be conducted abroad as well and clinical trials set to start soon in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. (Sputnik/ANI)