Russia’s health ministry has given regulatory approval for the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine.
Russia has claimed to have developed a vaccine for Covid-19 after less than two months of testing on humans.
President Vladimir Putin said the vaccine had passed all the required checks and that one of his daughters has already received two shots.
“I would like to repeat that it has passed all the necessary tests. The most important thing is to ensure full safety of using the vaccine and its efficiency,” he said.
Large-scale production of the vaccine is expected to start in September with mass vaccination beginning as early as October.
The speed at which Russia has developed the vaccine has drawn warnings from experts around the world, with Putin being accused of putting national prestige before science and safety.
“Sometimes individual researchers claim they have found something, which is of course, as such, great news,” World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.
“But between finding or having a clue of maybe having a vaccine that works, and having gone through all the stages, is a big difference.”
Russia registered 4,945 new cases of the coronavirus today, pushing its national case tally to 897,599, the fourth largest in the world.
If Russia’s vaccine does prove effective, it could lead a way for the world to recover from the pandemic much sooner than anticipated.
Russian authorities have said that medical workers and teachers will be the first to be vaccinated.
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