Russian scientist behind Covid-19 vaccine defends 'wartime' roll-out

MOSCOW • Russia plans to share preliminary results of its Covid-19 vaccine trial based on the first six weeks of monitoring participants, raising the tempo in an already frenzied global race to end the corona-virus pandemic.

Dr Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya Institute that produced the Sputnik V vaccine, said the pace of its development was necessary under the "wartime" conditions of a pandemic but that no corners were being cut.

Russia has pushed ahead with its potential Covid-19 vaccine at top speed with mass public vaccinations alongside the main human trial, raising concerns that it was prioritising national prestige over solid science and safety.

"People are dying just like during a war. But this fast-tracked pace is not synonymous, as some media have suggested, with corners being cut. No way," said Dr Gintsburg, adding that all the guidelines for testing Sputnik V's safety and efficacy had been followed.

The plan to publish interim results based on the first 42 days of monitoring volunteers means Russia has a high chance of becoming the first worldwide to announce any data from a final-stage trial, which is known as phase three.

The first of 5,000 volunteers was vaccinated on Sept 9, which means interim results could be issued some time after Oct 21.

Several Western developers are conducting final-stage trials that have been going on for more than 42 days but have not published any interim results.

Dr Gintsburg said there was a public interest argument for sharing interim results after 42 days as they would show the general trend in the data. "For me, it is too short. But for people who are interested in how things are going, it is already too long."

He said volunteers would be monitored for 180 days after the last of 40,000 participants was vaccinated. Six months on, his team planned to tally final results and publish them. Their early-stage trial results were peer-reviewed and published in The Lancet.

In parallel with the trial, Russia began inoculating members of the general public considered at high risk on Sept 8, another unconventional move by Moscow in the race for a vaccine.

About 400 people have since been inoculated. A government source said the interim phase three trial results would likely inform a decision on whether to expand this mass inoculation drive, starting with people aged over 60.

Moscow registered 642 new Covid-19 cases on the day the trial began. The infection rate has risen since, with 2,217 new cases on Monday, though it is well below a peak of around 6,000 daily infections in the capital in early May.

REUTERS