Harsh Vardkhan
Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has revealed the deadline for completing the development of a vaccine against coronavirus. He spoke about this at a web conference on the pandemic, RIA Novosti reports.
“We are in the process of developing our local vaccines, in the process of completing the third phase of our trials in the next one or two months,” he said, adding that by July next year, the government plans to vaccinate 200-250 million people in the country.
This week, Indian biotech company Bharat Biotech announced the start of Phase III trials of the Bharat Biotech Covaxin coronavirus vaccine in collaboration with the Indian Medical Research Council and the National Institute of Virology.
Earlier, the CEO of the American pharmaceutical company Moderna Stefan Bansel disclosed the price of the upcoming coronavirus vaccine. According to him, the cost of one dose of the vaccine will be from 25 to 37 dollars for European countries, depending on the volume of the order. The third phase of trials of the Moderna mRNA-1273 coronavirus vaccine showed an efficacy of 94.5 percent.
The world's first Russian coronavirus vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Center, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced its registration on August 11, production began on August 15. On November 19, manufacturers of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine submitted an application for certification to the World Health Organization. So far, the organization has not spoken out in favor of any vaccine against COVID-19, because the drugs must go through an assessment system, first in their country, then at the international level.
