COVID-19 started during the end of 2019 and with the beginning of 2020, it spread around the globe. Every country has been affected by it in terms of health, economy, and society. Since the begging of the year, everyone has been looking forward to one thing and that is a vaccine that could cure this virus.
During the last 24 hours, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that he has approved the first-ever vaccine of COVID-19. But is this vaccine safe and reliable remains a question?
The announcement by the Russian President had left many in confusion. The race for the vaccine was a marathon that everyone wanted to win.
Many countries have claimed that they have developed a vaccine against the virus. This includes China and England. But, after a certain phase of testing those vaccines proved to be dangerous and unreliable. The same might be the case with the Russian vaccine. The announcement by the president comes too early while there are many phases of testing left.
While Putin claims that the vaccine has been properly tested and approved by regulatory authorities it still misses a phase three trials. Vaccines have to pass through four phases of trials. In the first phase, they are tested on a small number of patients. Then in phase two, the number is increased to hundreds while also analyzing its side effects. Phase three includes thousands of participants where they are divided into two groups. One group is given the vaccine and compared to the other. It could take months to complete this phase. If a vaccine passes third it is moved to phase four where it is checked whether it causes any rare condition.
It is too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the Russian vaccine as it is currently going through the first two phases. Perhaps the vaccine is effective or maybe it is not. Only time could tell if it works.