Russia registers world’s first Covid-19 vaccine
The state-run Gamaleya research institute last week launched Phase III trials of the Covid-19 vaccine
By IAR Desk
Russia has registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine early Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin announced amid widespread concerns about the rapidly developed vaccine’s safety., Russian media reported.
“This morning, for the first time in the world, a vaccine against the new coronavirus was registered,” President Vladimir Putin announced at a cabinet session which was broadcast on TV.
“I know that it’s effective and forms sustainable immunity,” he said.
The state-run Gamaleya research institute last week launched Phase III trials of the Covid-19 vaccine involving thousands of volunteers. The Health Ministry has said it plans to begin mass production of the vaccine as soon as next month and launch a mass vaccination drive in October.
Putin said one of his daughters, whose identity he has neither confirmed nor denied to date, has already taken the vaccine, said a report in the Moscow Times.
The Health Ministry website hasha registration certificate which says that the vaccine, an injection solution called “Sputnik-V,” will enter civilian circulation on Jan. 1, 2021.
Experts, including an industry body representing multinationals that conduct clinical trials in Russia, have called the vaccine’s swift registration without completing Phase III trials a “Pandora’s box.”
The World Health Organization last week urged Russia to follow established guidelines and go “through all the stages” necessary to develop a safe vaccine.
Russia has the world’s fourth-highest Covid-19 caseload with almost 900,000 infections.
