Patients involved in early tests of a Russian coronavirus vaccine developed antibodies with “no serious adverse events,” according to research published in The Lancet Friday, but experts said the trials were too small to prove safety and effectiveness.
Russia announced last month that its vaccine, named “Sputnik V” after the Soviet-era satellite that was the first launched into space in 1957, had already received approval.
This raised concerns among Western scientists over a lack of safety data, with some warning that moving too quickly on a vaccine could be dangerous.
Russia denounced criticism as an attempt to undermine Moscow’s research.
In the Lancet study, Russian researchers reported on two small trials, each involving 38 healthy adults aged between 18 and 60, who were given a two-part immunization.
Each participant was given a dose of the first part of the vaccine and then given a booster with the second part 21 days later.
They were monitored over 42 days and all developed antibodies within the first three weeks.
The report said the data showed that the vaccine was “safe, well tolerated, and does not cause serious adverse events in healthy adult volunteers.”
First death in 3 months
New Zealand recorded its first COVID-19 death in more than three months on Friday when a man in his 50s succumbed to the virus.
Health officials said the man was part of a second-wave cluster of infections that emerged in Auckland last month, ending a spell of 102 days free of community transmission in the South Pacific nation.
The death at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital on Friday afternoon takes New Zealand’s death toll from the virus to 23, with the most recent previous fatality on May 24.
“I acknowledge the anxiety New Zealanders may be feeling about today’s news, both in the wider community and also for the family and whanau (relatives) grieving over this death,” health chief Ashley Bloomfield said in a statement.
Roche gets green light
Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche said Friday it had received the green light in the United States for the emergency use of a diagnostic test differentiating between coronavirus and influenza.
Amid fears the flu season will place additional burdens on the health system, authorities are keen to see tests that can distinguish coronavirus from other seasonal illnesses, notably flu.
Roche said its cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B test had won Emergency Use Authorization approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
The firm added the test would also be available for use in countries where the European CE certification mark applies.
Brazil surpasses 4-million cases
Brazil surpassed four million coronavirus cases on Thursday, as an international panel looking into the global response to the pandemic vowed to uncover how it was able to spread worldwide.
“This is a strong panel poised to ask the hard questions,” said former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, which will rake over the heavily criticized World Health Organization-led response.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said more than 7,000 health care workers have died of the virus worldwide, including more than 1,300 in Mexico alone, the most for any country.
The virus continued to disrupt the world of sport and entertainment, with the filming of the new Batman movie halted in Britain because its star Robert Pattinson reportedly tested positive for the disease.
Former Italian PM hospitalized
Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalized “as a precaution,” his entourage said Friday after the media tycoon tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this week.
Berlusconi was taken to San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Thursday night after suffering “certain symptoms,” but there was “no cause for concern,” a statement said.
The AGI news agency said Berlusconi, who turns 84 at the end of this month, was hospitalized in a room that he often occupies when staying at the facility. AGI said this indicated that his condition was not serious, or he would be in intensive care.