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Kuwait City: In light of the recent announcement by the Russian Federation that 20 countries have requested over one billion doses of the newly-developed Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Kuwait’s Ministry of Health stated that it is not one of the countries, local media reported.
Although the Ministry of Health is following developments of the Russian clinical trial, it is awaiting approval by the World Health Organisation (WHO) before requesting any vaccine. “The Ministry has a specialised technical committee, which includes consultants and experts in infection and internal disease, to find out the most prominent treatments and vaccines used worldwide and is following up on global developments and medicines that could be used to treat COVID-19 patients,” a source told Al Qabas.
Concerns over vaccine
President Valdmir Putin announced on Tuesday that Russia will approve a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, Reuters reported. His remarks were met with alarm, as without a full trial the vaccine is hard to trust, global health experts pointed out.
Francois Ballous, an expert at University College London’s Genetics Institutes, told Reuters: “Mass vaccination with an improperly tested vaccine is unethical ... any problem with the Russian vaccination campaign would be disastrous both through its negative effects on health, but also because it would further set back the acceptance of vaccines in the population.”
Putin mentioned that one of his daughters has been administered the vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institutes.
“I know that it works quite effectively, forms strong immunity, and I repeat, it has passed all the needed checks,” Putin said on state television.
Talks between the WHO and Russian health authorities have begun to discuss the process for possible WHO pre-qualification, Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesman said.
During a UN briefing in Geneva, Jasarevic said, “Pre-qualification of any vaccine includes the rigorous review and assessment of all required safety and efficacy data.”
In addition, Jarbas Barbosa, assistant director of WHO’s regional branch, the Pan American Health Organisation, said that WHO has not received enough information on the Russian vaccine in order to evaluate it.
