(ORDO NEWS) — Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology employees who tested a vaccine of their own production against coronavirus found antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in their blood. The director of the center, Alexander Gunzburg, said this on the air of the “Live Healthy” television program , adding that it was a question of protective, virus-neutralizing antibodies.
The vaccine was given to itself by all the employees who participated in its development. The injection was voluntary: according to Gunzburg, the center’s employees took such a step, “understanding its safety and the responsibility that exists in the process of drug development.”
The drug was created on the basis of an adenoviral vector (a virus whose genes responsible for the development of infection are excised). Such a vector delivers SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus genes into cells and promotes the production of antiviral immunoglobulins.
Now the prototype of the vaccine is undergoing the last stage of preclinical trials on monkeys and rodents. Earlier in an interview with the Russian newspaper, Gunzburg claimed that the drug showed low toxicity, as well as high immunogenicity and safety. If there are no problems with the vaccine before the end of the trial, human trials will begin in June.
The creators of the vaccine hope that its mass use can be started in early autumn. According to Gunzburg, the vaccination process will take from six months to nine months.
About a hundred promising coronavirus vaccines are currently under development worldwide. Some of them have already reached the stage of human trials. However, the World Health Organization warns that the stage of transition from a safe prototype to a working vaccine may last more than a year.
Earlier, Chinese immunologists talked about the development of a drug that, according to its creators, can help stop a pandemic earlier and more effectively than vaccination. Their American colleagues at Moderna said they successfully conducted the first phase of its own vaccine trials on humans.
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