Following the agreement between Russia and Philippines, more or less 1,000 healthy Filipinos will be able to receive the first doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine by October.
Dr. Jaime Montoya, the executive director of Department of Science and Technology Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD), shared some details about their “productive” meeting with the manufacturers and scientists who developed the said vaccine.
According to Montoya, Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute’s Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials showed that about 76 people injected did not react negatively with the vaccine.
“They have shown that it was effective. It produced sufficient antibodies in the people that were given the vaccine. It was safe, only minor adverse effects such as fever for a few days after the injection,” he told CNN Philippines.
The Russian government approved and registered a vaccine for COVID-19 on Tuesday, allowing limited use. This makes it the first ever COVID-19 vaccine to be registered in the entire globe.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed the Philippines will join the Phase 3 of the medical research, which will be fully funded by Russia. This will be simultaneously conducted with Russia from October 2020 to March 2021.
Only healthy Filipinos may volunteer to join the clinical trials to determine if they can build the immunity for the coronavirus once they have received the vaccine. Around 1,000 people will be randomly selected from areas with high COVID-19 transmission, Montoya added.
