Russia Develops Second Covid-19 Vaccine at Former Secret Biological Weapons Plant

Russia has launched a second Covid-19 vaccine that does not exhibit the side-effects of the previous one released a few weeks ago.

The new vaccine, which was developed at a top-secret biological weapons plant ‘avoids the side-effects of the first one’ that Putin announced to widespread scepticism recently. In the Soviet-era, the Russian lab was key to an illegal biological weapon programme.

Moscow had been criticised for rushing to release the first vaccine, Sputnik V, on August 11. Sputnik’s reported side effects included swelling, pain, hyperthermia – a high body temperature, and itching at the place of injection. Clinical trials of Russia’s second vaccine will be completed in September, but so far 57 volunteers who were used as human guinea-pigs report no side-effects, scientists have claimed.

According to a report in the TASS news agency, the vaccine elicits an immune response after double administration with the interval of 14-21 days. So far, just one volunteer has been inoculated twice.

This comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the country has developed the first vaccine – Sputnik V, offering “sustainable immunity” against the deadly coronavirus or Covid-19. He had also informed that said that one of his daughters was inoculated with the new Russian coronavirus vaccine. “One of my daughters had this vaccine. I think in this sense she took part in the experiment,” Putin had said.

If reports are to be believed, Russia is planning a large-scale trial of its ‘Sputnik V’ vaccine involving 40,000 people.