Russia Covid-19 vaccine: Over 250 people in Moscow get inoculated, says report

• The vast majority of them are in good health, the anti-coronavirus crisis centre says
• The development comes after a week of Russia releasing the first batch of the Sputnik V vaccine into civil circulation

The Russian government on Monday said that over 250 Moscow residents have got the dose of its first Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, over the past five days, according to a report.

The vast majority of them are in good health, the anti-coronavirus crisis centre told reporters today.

"Over the past five days of clinical trials of the vaccine against the coronavirus infection over 250 Moscow residents got inoculated at the seven centres that opened first. Doctors closely monitor the health condition of the vaccinated. The absolute majority is in excellent health - 75% of the participants today do not observe any symptoms or ailments," the crisis centre said, according to the Russian news agency.

On Friday, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told reporters that the first batch of Russia's Covid-19 vaccine was likely to be delivered to all regions of the country by 14 September, according to TASS.

"The first batches of the vaccine for testing the supply chain have already been shipped, we are now checking the delivery system so that the staff gets to know it. The first small batches have already been shipped to all regions, the Leningrad region will also receive [the vaccine] among the first ones. In fact, the first samples of the vaccine will be delivered by Monday," Murashko had said.

The development comes after a week of Russia releasing the first batch of the Sputnik V vaccine into civil circulation, the Russian Health Ministry informed.

Sputnik V Covid vaccine, which is developed by Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology under the Russian Health Ministry, may be granted permission to release a batch of its vaccine for civilian use, the institute’s deputy director for research, associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Denis Logunov said earlier, according to a report.

On August 11, Russia became the first country to license a Covid-19 vaccine, calling it "Sputnik V" in homage to the world's first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. But western experts have warned against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory steps have been taken. The vaccine is undergoing Phase 3 trials.

The vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants in early-stage trials, according to results published by The Lancet medical journal earlier that were hailed by Moscow as an answer to its critics.

The results of the two trials, conducted in June-July this year and involving 76 participants, showed 100% of participants developing antibodies to the new coronavirus and no serious side effects, The Lancet said.

However, a group of international scientists questioned results from the Lancet medical journal, saying some of the findings appeared improbable, reported Bloomberg.

The researchers flagged concerns over seemingly identical levels of antibodies in a number of study participants who were inoculated with the experimental vaccine. This and other patterns in the data present “several different points of concern," according to an open letter written by Temple University professor Enrico Bucci and signed by more than a dozen other scientists.