NUR-SULTAN – Clinical trials of QazCoVac-P, another Kazakh vaccine against COVID-19, were launched on June 15 at the Kazakh Biosafety Research Institute, reported the press service of the institute.
Photo credit: Shutterstock.
QazCoVac-P is the second vaccine of the Biosafety Research Institute that has successfully passed preclinical trials in a specialized enterprise of the Kazakh Ministry of Healthcare and met the safety requirements. The first QazVac (QazCovid-in) vaccine was first dispatched on April 22.
The clinical trials involve volunteers of the age group from 18 to 50 years old and are held at the multidisciplinary hospital in Taraz. While QazVac is inactivated vaccine, QazCoVac-P is a subunit vaccine based on artificially synthesized proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Subunit vaccines, similar to inactivated vaccines, do not contain live components of the virus and are considered safe. The adjuvant contained in the vaccine effectively stimulates the immune response without adversely affecting the body of the vaccinated person. Since this type of vaccine contains only the necessary antigens and does not include all the other constituents of the virus, side effects after the subunit vaccine are less common. For example, vaccines against the flu, hepatitis B, pneumococcal, meningococcal and hemophilic infections are all subunit vaccines.
QazCoVac-P is also a two-dose vaccine. Currently, it stimulates immunity in the body of vaccinated laboratory animals on the 14th day after the intramuscular injection of the second dose.
Currently, Kazakhstan uses Russia’s Sputnik V, the locally produced QazVac, and China’s Sinopharm produced in the United Arab Emirates and named Hayat-Vax. A little over 2.5 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Kazakh Ministry of Healthcare.
If clinical trials of the new vaccines are successful, QazCoVac-P will make it possible to accelerate the formation of herd immunity to coronavirus in Kazakhstan.
