Russia to start testing virus vaccines on humans

MOSCOW: The head of a top Russian research centre told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that his lab was ready to start human trials of experimental coronavirus vaccines in June. Rinat Maksyutov, head of the Vektor State Virology and Biotechnology Centre, said his facility proposed first-phase clinical trials of three vaccines from June 29, on 180 volunteers.

Maksyutov was speaking during a video-link meeting between Putin and the heads of top research centres. "Groups of volunteers have already been formed," he told Putin, adding that a lot of people wanted to take part in the trials. Maksyutov said scientists at the top-secret lab complex located in Koltsovo outside the Siberian city of Novosibirsk had developed several prototype vaccines.