‘Russian civilians may get vaccine this month’ { COVID-19 } TACKLING THE VIRUS

MOSCOW/BEIJING: Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine, which is facing doubts and ethical questions, may be approved for civilian use between September 10 and 13, a local media report has said.

“Within days, between September 10 and 13, we are to obtain permission to release a batch of the vaccine for civilian use. From that moment on the population will begin to be vaccinated,” TASS news agency quoted Denis Logunov, deputy director for research and associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as saying.

Several other developers including Pfizer Inc, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna Inc plan to issue a public pledge not to seek government approval until their vaccine candidates are proven to be safe and effective, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The companies would pledge to adhere to high scientific and ethical standards in the conduct of clinical studies and in their manufacturing processes.

Meanwhile, China’s Sinovac and China National Biotec Group said they have each found two more countries to run latestage clinical tests of their vaccine candidates. Serbia and Pakistan have agreed to participate in the Phase 3 trials of CNBG’s vaccine candidates while Sinovac has received approval from Turkey and Bangladesh. About 90% of Sinovac employees and their families have taken its vaccine under the country’s emergency use programme, its chief executive said on Sunday.

Australia’s Victoria state on Sunday extended a hard lockdown in Melbourne by two weeks.