At the Scientific Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter – RIBSP), on July 26, 2020, five scientists-developers headed by Director General Zakarya K.D. were vaccinated with QazCovid-in – own inactivated COVID-19 vaccine and the next day after observing the vaccinated employees and receiving information that the vaccine was safe, 2 more employees were vaccinated (doctors of science, professors: Kutumbetov L.B. (the first received the vaccine) , Khairullin B.M., Orynbayev M.B., Sultankulova K.T., Abdurayimov Ye.O., Nurabayev S.Sh.). Vaccination made it possible to fully reproduce the I/II phase of the planned clinical trials of the QazCovid-in®-inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, developed in the RIBSP.
Vaccination was necessary for the complete epidemiological protection of RIBSP researchers who are directly carrying out research work on the development of technology for the manufacture and testing of the first domestic vaccine against COVID-19. In the event of a natural contamination of these researchers with COVID-19, the Institute would be deprived of the most valuable specialists, performing the most important state task of developing a domestic vaccine for a long time.
Vaccination with your own vaccine is an unspoken scientific standard of developers of medical and immunobiological preparations, when the developer, first of all, must investigate the safety and immunogenicity of his own development, and secondly, take full responsibility for the results and quality of his research, thus, ensuring the safety of future volunteers who will take part in clinical trials.
Vaccinated employees are monitored daily. As of 4 August 2020, all vaccinated employees are clinically healthy, demonstrating the safety of the vaccine. Studies of biochemical and hematological analysis of blood and urine are carried out, as well as the level of antibodies in blood serum by ELISA and in the neutralization reaction.
As a result of the vaccination carried out before the start of clinical trials, vaccine developers receive valuable information about the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine when immunizing the population of the Republic of Kazakhstan in comparison with the results of preclinical tests of the vaccine on laboratory animals.
One of the latest examples of vaccination of developers with their own vaccine is vaccination of employees of Vector STU in Novosibirsk and the Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology after Gamaley, Moscow. Russian scientists have vaccinated employees of their institutes with vaccines against Covid-19, developed by these scientific centers before the official start of clinical trials.