Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize says that he is aware of ongoing developments of a new Covid-19 vaccine in Russia, but has warned that vaccine trials undergo several steps of development before they are given the green light.<\/p>\n
Russsian researchers announced<\/a><\/strong> this weekend\u00a0that they might be the first in the world to develop a Coronavirus vaccine, as they have completed tests on volunteers.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s Vektor State Research Center for Virology and Biotechnologies said it has successfully completed pre-clinical trials of an anti-coronavirus vaccine, Anna Popova, chief of the Russian sanitary watchdog, said on Friday.<\/p>\n “Colleagues have finished pre-clinical trials. They were successful. Actually, we have practically all the grounds to be sure that things will go as we promised, i.e. we plan to begin clinical trials on July 15,” Popova said in an interview.<\/p>\n However, Mkhize said that there were a number of steps that will need to be followed – even if the vaccine is successful.<\/p>\n “You have to do work at the laboratories, do the research, move to animal studies and when it passes that, you have to move to a human trial,” he said.<\/p>\n “The same trial is going on in the US, UK, Brazil and other countries. We\u2019re not yet at a point where we\u2019ve got a ready vaccine. It is good news, yes, but it is work in progress. It is still early days.<\/p>\n “We haven\u2019t come to a point where we can just go to Russia and source a vaccine for South Africans.”<\/p>\n