A medical worker holds a syringe with a flu vaccine in a mobile flu vaccination center in central Moscow. centers.
Vyacheslav Prokofyev | TASS | Getty Images
Early results from trials of Russia’s potential coronavirus vaccine show no series negative side effects, a study published in peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet revealed Friday.
“Preliminary results from Russian trials find that #COVID19 vaccine candidates led to no serious adverse events and elicit antibody response,” a tweet from the journal’s Twitter account read.
Doctors involved in the trials conducted “two open, non-randomised phase 1/2 studies at two hospitals in Russia,” on 76 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 60, the Lancet article said. It added that the vaccine formulations tested were “safe and well tolerated.”
The vaccine has been dubbed “Sputnik V” in Russia, but has faced criticism from the West amid questions over the speed of its approval and lack of data so far.
However Kirill Dmitriev, the chief of Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF which is backing the vaccine, hailed The Lancet study as validation of his country’s efforts in an interview with CNBC.
“We had lots of interest in the Russian vaccine (with) publication in the Lancet, which is one of key Western magazines on medicine,” Dmitriev told CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum. “It is very important to share information with the world … the results have been very good but basically the study showed there is very strong both antibodies and cell immune response.”
He added that Russia was “on track” to provide exports of the vaccine by November.
The Lancet is one of the world’s oldest medical journals, with editorial offices in New York, London and Beijing.
This is a developing news story and will be updated shortly.
