Kazakhstan wraps up stage 3 of its QazVac COVID-19 vaccine

The third stage of the clinical trials of the Kazakh QazVac vaccine has been completed, Kunsulu Zakarya, CEO of the Scientific Research Institute for Biological Security Problems, told a briefing at the Central Communications Service, Kazinform correspondent reports.

Brief background:

On May 9, 2020, scientists developed the QazVac (QazCovid-in) vaccine. The vaccine was made using a safe technology from a killed virus with the addition of an immunostimulator. On May 15, 2020, WHO registered it as a candidate vaccine. Preclinical studies of the vaccine on laboratory animals have begun. In June 2020, the National Center for the Examination of Medicines of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan recognized the positive results of the research. In July, the developers were vaccinated with their own QazVac (QazCovid-in) vaccine. On September 17, 2020, phase I clinical trials began on 44 volunteers. The vaccine has shown high safety. The health of the volunteers was excellent. On October 17, 2020, phase II of clinical trials began, 200 volunteers took part in it. As a result, the vaccine showed high immunogenicity and effectiveness. On December 19, 2020, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan gave permission for the III phase of clinical trials. 3,000 people became volunteers and were vaccinated with the QazVac (QazCovid-in) vaccine. The condition of the volunteers is satisfactory, there were no complaints, the necessary protective antibodies appeared in the blood. In April 2021, the QazCovid-in vaccine (QazVac) was presented to journalists at the Research Institute of Biological Safety.

Link to the article in inform.kz https://www.inform.kz/en/kazakhstan-wraps-up-stage-3-of-its-qazvac-covid-19-vaccine_a3832766