QazVac vaccine nears halfway point in phase three clinical trials

The first half of the third phase of clinical trials of the Kazakh domestic coronavirus vaccine will be completed on April 15, the country’s Vice Minister of Education and Science Miras Daulenov announced. 3,000 volunteers are participating in the study. Some of them were immunized with the vaccine itself and the rest are the placebo recipients. At the end of trials, everyone will be tested. A performance report will be prepared based on the results.

“Everything is held according to the protocol approved by the Health Ministry. The trials are carried out in clinics that have the GCP certification in Almaty and Taraz. Every week, all volunteers report their health status to doctors; they regularly come to clinics to be monitored by physicians. Volunteers are tested for both virus-specific and neutralizing antibodies. We must understand that in accordance with the clinical trial protocol and the requirements of the Health Ministry and the World Health Organization, there are certain deadlines for conducting them. Phase three clinical trials take no less than 180 days to complete. We all need to be patient and wait for the final results,” said Miras Daulenov, Kazakh Vice Minister of Education and Science.

“50,000 doses of the vaccine have been produced. They’re now passing quality control. On April 25-27 they will be shipped to the SK-Pharmacy warehouses,” said Kunsulu Zakarya, Director General, Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems.

QazVac was the 14th vaccine in the world to reach the third phase of clinical trials. In total, the WHO lists more than 260 COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Overall, Kazakhstan allocated 2.5 billion tenge (US$5.7 million) for the development and research of coronavirus drugs. Domestic scientists are now working on five vaccines.