The Gamaleya Institute candidate being produced in Russia (it’s far from the only vaccine project underway in the country) is among the 26 being tested on humans in the country. However, it’s still listed as ‘Phase 1’ for testing.

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the project’s main financial backer, confirmed Tuesday that Phase 3 trials are ready to begin on Wednesday, while mass production likely won’t begin until September or October. More than 20 countries have already ordered doses, he added. Jasarevic added that the process being undertaken by the WHO to review the Russian vaccine would be the same undertaken for any other vaccine project.

“Every country has national regulatory agencies that approve the use of vaccines or medicines on its territory,” Jasarevic explained.

“WHO has in place a process of pre-qualification for vaccines but also for medicines. Manufacturers ask to have the WHO pre-qualification because it is a sort of stamp of quality.”

“To get this, there is a review and assessment of all required safety and efficacy data that are gathered through the clinical trials. WHO will do this for any candidate vaccine.”

But even if things don’t work out with the Russian candidate, Jasarevic said, there are many other vaccine candidates in Phase 3, and beyond.

“We are encouraged by the speed by which several candidate vaccines have been developing and as we have been always saying, we hope some of these vaccines will prove to be safe and efficient,” said Jasarevic. “Accelerating progress does not mean compromising on safety,” he said.

However, Dr. Ali Nouri, a molecular biologist and President of the Federation of American Scientists, slammed Russia’s decision as “reckless” and insisted that Russia’s vaccine is “well behind” the biggest western and Chinese competitors…CLICK for complete article

U.S. employers added 7.5 million jobs in May and June, following a devastating April in which millions filed for unemployment benefits. But July is the tricky month because the trend has failed to continue at the same pace making it look like the pandemic surge is now threatening the recovery momentum.   Even though the Department of Labor will release official data by the end of the week, Dow Jones estimates that 1.26 million jobs were added in July.

That might sound fantastic, but the resurgence of the virus added new volatility to the outlook and economists now fear new layoffs.

Last month, medical experts called for a restart of the COVID lockdown as the United States adds tens of thousands of new cases daily. Twenty-two states, including Washington, Michigan and California, have imposed new restrictions, resulting in fresh layoffs.

As for the previous two months, the healthcare, logistics and construction industries presented with the highest demand for new workers.

In June alone, employers added nearly 5 million jobs. Of those, the leisure and hospitality sector dominated with 2.1 million jobs, while retailers added 740,000 jobs, and education and health services opened up 568,000 jobs.

Compared to the five-decade-low 4.4% unemployment rate we saw in early March, the current rate of 11% looks great, with the number of unemployed persons falling by 3.2 million to 17.8 million, according to the US Department of Labor…CLICK for complete article