"As part of pre-clinical research the specialists of the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian Defense Ministry successfully completed the trials on two species of animals: monkeys and hamsters. During the research, the safety of the medication and its protective effectiveness were shown and proven,” Head of the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian Defense Ministry Sergey Borisevich said.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 50 volunteers among the servicemen had been selected to conduct the vaccine trials on humans. These are 45 men and five women aged between 25 and 50, who are healthy and without bad habits.
The head of the Main Military Clinical Burdenko Hospital, Evgeny Kryukov, said among the volunteers were ten medical staff, including three doctors. Before the trials begin, they will be isolated and pass tests for the coronavirus. The goal of the clinical trials is to confirm whether the vaccine is safe and people tolerate it well and whether a human body can develop protective anti-bodies to the novel coronavirus infection, he said.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier told President Vladimir Putin that the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian Defense Ministry jointly with the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology were developing a recombinant coronavirus vaccine. According to Shoigu, clinical trials were to be completed by the end of July.
The clinical trials of the vaccine will be conducted at the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian Defense Ministry where vaccines against Ebola and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), as well as a universal flu vaccine, had been studied and successfully tested.