Russia not world’s first to develop Covid-19 vaccine: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

PTI, Aug 13, 2020, 6:04 PM IST

Bengaluru: Biotechnology industry veteran Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has questioned Russian claims of developing the world’s first safe coronavirus vaccine, citing the absence of data on clinical trials and “more advanced” programmes elsewhere.

The world has not seen any data on Phase 1 or 2 clinical trials conducted by Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Institute, the Executive Chairperson of Bengaluru-headquartered Biocon Ltd said.

“If launching a vaccine prior to completion of Phase 3 trials is acceptable to Russia, well so be it,” Mazumdar-Shaw told PTI.

“But it doesn’t make them the world’s first vaccine as several other vaccine programmes are even more advanced,” she added.

Russia announced on Tuesday it had become the first country to grant regulatory approval to a Covid-19 vaccine.

The first dose of the vaccine-Sputnik-V, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry, was administered to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughter.