Only those coronavirus vaccines that have completed all required phases of trials will be eligible for entering the Austrian market, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday
VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th August, 2020) Only those coronavirus vaccines that have completed all required phases of trials will be eligible for entering the Austrian market, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday.
"We can guarantee that the Austrian government would give access to a vaccine only after it is tested," Kurz told a press conference.
Citing the wide-spread caution of people about getting vaccinated with a product which has just entered the market, Kurz said "Austria does not have mandatory vaccination and is not going to introduce it."
According to the WHO protocols, a vaccine has to go through three phases of studies to be approved for large-scale production.
Phase 1 normally involves small-scale studies on up to 100 participants to determine a candidate vaccine's safety and clinical tolerance. Phase 2 can include up to 1,000 and is more representative in terms their age, ethnicity and other statistically significant factors. This phase pursues to determine the optimal dose, intervals between doses and the minimum necessary number of doses in a target population.
Phase 3 trials are the largest and can include up to 10,000 participants with the maximum representation of target population categories. A candidate vaccine is ready to move into industrial production if this last phase provides clear and definitive evidence of its safety and efficacy.
On August 11, the Russian government officially registered the world's first vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V. Though the vaccine is still underway with the third phase of clinical trials, Russian health officials claimed it had a proven capability to produce stable immunity against the coronavirus.
Several other countries have followed the lead and announced they would fast-track the registration of their COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use.
