COVID vaccine trial in Russia: Russia was the first country to allow its vaccine for public use.
Moscow:
Russian journalists working for two state-owned media outlets are among the first to be offered the new Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial, according to one of the media and four employees.
Russia began vaccinating members of the general public at high risk of coronavirus infection earlier this month, while separately launching a large-scale trial. So far, around 400 people have been beaten as part of the program, the health ministry said this week.
The government released a list of jobs considered high risk last month, which included health workers, journalists and teachers.
With hundreds of potential COVID-19 vaccines in various stages of development around the world, Russia was the first country to authorize its vaccine for public use and, alongside China, rolled out the vaccines before trials ended. full efficiency.
Two journalists from the state-owned RIA news agency and two from the Russian state-owned television holding company VGTRK, which operates Russia-1 and Russia-24 news channels, told Reuters they were offered a COVID shot -19 on a voluntary basis.
One of the RIA reporters said his impression was that the majority of his colleagues had declined the offer. One of the VGTRK journalists also said that many of his colleagues refused.
The RIA news agency confirmed the vaccination program. “We have granted employees who work constantly from the office (not remotely), at events and in the field, the opportunity to be vaccinated against Sputnik V,” he said in a statement.
RIA did not say how many employees received the vaccine and VGTRK did not respond to a request for comment. Both companies employ hundreds of people.
At the RIA and VGTRK headquarters in Moscow, media workers who spoke to Reuters said they had undergone a basic medical examination and PCR and antibody tests against the coronaviruses.
In an interview with Reuters, the chief scientist behind the vaccine’s development said people vaccinated outside of a trial underwent a less rigorous medical examination, although they could submit additional health data through a platform. online.
At the time of registration, the vaccine had been officially tested on less than 100 volunteers in early-stage clinical trials. Advanced stage trials began last month, with the first volunteer in a cohort of 40,000 people vaccinated on September 9.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
