MOSCOW — Just announced today, President Vladimir Putin has stated Russia to have developed the first vaccine against the COVID-19, or otherwise known as the coronavirus.
The announcement was made through a televised video conference call with other government ministers. The vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, was registered in the morning and said to offer “sustainable immunity”.
Intent on being the first in the global race to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, Russia’s vaccine was approved with less than two months of human testing. This raised alarms among global health experts, for there has yet to be a large-scale trial of shots and full trial data, making the vaccine hard to trust.
Amid concerns it may not have fully tested its product, the World Health Organisation has even stressed the importance of following all procedures and established guidelines for the development of a safe vaccine.
“The vaccine’s registration is conditional and trials will continue while production gets underway.”
– The Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Murashko
President Vladimir Putin however, claims that testing had demonstrated the vaccine to be safe, worked effectively, and formed long-term immunity. He even vouched that one of his daughters had done the inoculation herself.
Russia hopes to release a mass-production launch within weeks and to then several million of doses every month by the start of next year.
“The vaccine will be marketed under the name of ‘Sputnik V’ on foreign markets.”
– The Head of Russia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund RDIF, Kirill Dmitriev
They had already received numerous foreign requests for a billion doses and are currently in the process to expect production in Brazil.
