Fact Check: Did Russia Develop the World's First Coronavirus vaccine?
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From the time COVID-19 occurred the news about the vaccine is always making rounds, some of the reports are false, and some are partially true. Some of us believe the communication without giving a second thought and share it devoid of checking the authenticity of the news. Some people do research and find out if the news holds some credibility and truth. We are doing precisely the same here about the world's fist Coronavirus vaccine which Russia claims of developing it.
Yesterday there was news about a Russian Medical University claiming to complete human trials successfully of the world's first COVID-19 vaccine which began to surface on news portals and social media. A vaccine candidate that was never in the front runners all of a sudden came in the front asserting that it is effective in fighting against the deadly COVID-19. This piece of news left people confused. Many of them are unable to believe this news about COVID-19 vaccine. And, facts also force us to do the same. This ambiguous news should not be accepted. Check out why?
Know the Fact
'Tass' a Russian news agency is the primary source of this news that says, the Russian scientists have completed human trials successfully, and the vaccine is extremely safe. Still, it did not mention that researchers have completed only the first stage out of a two-stage first phase of the clinical trial. Remarkably, any vaccine cannot e considered safe to be used on people unless it has successfully cleared three stages of human trials.
This news about the COVID-19 vaccine which is partially correct or unclear became viral in India after Russian state-controlled news agency "Sputnik News" reported this news and the Russian embassy in India also tweeted about the same.
🦠#Sechenov University has successfully completed tests on volunteers of the world's first vaccine against #COVID19.
— Russia in India (@RusEmbIndia) July 12, 2020
"The #vaccine is safe. The volunteers will be discharged on July 15 and July 20", chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk told TASS ➡️ https://t.co/jVrmWbLvwX pic.twitter.com/V8bon4lieR
How Far the News is True
According to the US National Library of Medicine, this Russian vaccine candidate mentioned there as "Gam-COVID-Vac Lyo", and the Gamalei institute is in the course of developing it. As per the website, presently, the vaccine is under Phase-1 human trial. The World Health Organisation document on COID-19 vaccine also affirms the same.