Russian health officials announce start of coronavirus vaccine’s mass production
Russia has officially started mass production of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute, the Russian Health Ministry confirmed to the news agency Interfax.
“Sputnik V” will be manufactured at the “Binnopharm” pharmaceutical plant in Zelenograd.
Gamaleya Research Institute Director Alexander Gintsburg previously stated that production of the vaccine will reach 5 million doses a month by December or January. It will reportedly take a year to manufacture all the Sputnik V needed in Russia.
Vladimir Putin announced the approval of Sputnik V in a teleconference with his cabinet on August 11. The president stated that the vaccine “works well enough, forms stable immunity, and has passed all the necessary checks,” and revealed that his eldest daughter has already been inoculated with the product.
Russia’s vaccine, however, is still in the early stages of testing and the Gamaleya Research Institute has yet to conduct Phase III trials. Strangely, Sputnik V’s developers have published no data from their clinical tests in any scientific literature. The individuals receiving this vaccine will get it at their own risk and there will be no clinical study of what happens to them.
More about ‘Sputnik V’
- The first vaccine that wasn’t Russia approves a coronavirus immunization, but a lack of clinical trials means those getting inoculated are rolling the dice
- Russia’s way out Microbiologist Denis Logunov explains his headstart on a coronavirus vaccine and why a two-vector approach promises better immunity
Why this name?
The vaccine’s creators haven’t explained publicly, but it’s possible that the letter “V” refers to the words “vaccine” or “vector,” or perhaps it signifies the Roman numeral for five in a reference to the adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5), which the vaccine uses as a vector to deliver SARS-CoV-2 genetic material into patients.