WHO urges Russia to follow all guidelines before rolling out Covid-19 vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) urged Russia to adhere to the established guidelines for its vaccine trials and development. This comes after the country announced its plan to start mass-producing its vaccine in September after the regulatory approval.

Russia averred on Monday that it aims to mass-produce the vaccine in September and produce "several million" doses per month by next year.

Russia is going forward with several vaccine prototypes. Officials claimed that the vaccine that is being developed by the Gamaleya institute in Moscow has reached the advanced stage of development and is about to pass state registration.

"We are very much counting on starting mass production in September," Industry Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview published by state news agency TASS as cited in the AFP report.

Speaking on the development in Russia, WHO highlighted that all vaccine candidates must go through the full stages of testing before they roll out the treatment.

"There are established practices and there are guidelines out," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters at the United Nations in Geneva.

"Any vaccine...(or medicine) for this purpose should be, of course, going through all the various trials and tests before being licensed for roll-out," he said.

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"But between finding or having a clue of maybe having a vaccine that works, and having gone through all the stages, is a big difference," he added.

Last week, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said to media: "The vaccine against coronavirus infection, developed by the Gamaleya Institute, has completed clinical trials," as per Sputnik news report.

He also informed that the country is going to organize a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus for October.

"We plan wider vaccinations for October," Murashko was quoted as saying, Reuters reported.