Philippines eyes clinical trials for Russian COVID-19 vaccine in October

The Philippines plans to start clinical trials for a Russian coronavirus vaccine in October, with President Rodrigo Duterte expected to be inoculated as early as May 2021, the presidential spokesman said on Thursday.

Phase three clinical trials in the Philippines are due to run from October to March 2021, after a panel of vaccine experts completes its review on Russia's phase one and two trials in September, Harry Roque, Duterte's spokesman, told a briefing.

Russia on Tuesday became the first country to grant regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine, to be named "Sputnik V" in homage to the Soviet Union's launch of the world's first satellite.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema; Editing by Ed Davies)