Russian President, Vladimir Putin has announced the first coronavirus vaccine in the world has been registered in Russia.
The vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center, has officially been registered with Russia’s Health Ministry, Putin told a meeting of members of the government in Moscow. He added that the vaccine trials yielded positive results, with all volunteers building up immunity to the coronavirus.
“A vaccine against coronavirus has been registered for the first time in the world this morning,” Putin said on state TV. “I know that it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity.”
Putin also disclosed that one of his daughters had already taken it and after a slightly higher temperature after each dose, “Now feels well.”
“After inoculation she had a high temperature for two days and then developed immunity. Recent tests found a high level of antibodies against the virus,” said Putin.
He stressed that the vaccination will be “strictly voluntary and free of charge.”
“I hope our foreign colleagues’ work will move as well, and a lot of products will appear on an international market that could be used.”
The vaccine, developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, has been named Sputnik-V. The name is a reference to the surprise 1957 launch of the world’s first satellite by the Soviet Union.
Alexander Gintzburg, head of the Gamaleya center acknowledged the effectiveness of the vaccine in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The vaccine is based on human adenovirus and contains dead COVID-19 particles which cannot multiply and are therefore safe. However, it can provoke an immune response such as high temperature to the introduction of foreign substances.”
Alexander Gintzburg
Russian Health Minister, Mikhail Murashko added that the vaccine had “proven to be highly effective and safe”, hailing it as a big step towards “humankind’s victory” over Covid-19.
The treatment is yet to go through crucial Phase 3 trials where it would be administered to thousands of people. Officials have said they have plans to start mass vaccination in October.
Experts have, however, raised concerns about the speed of Russia’s work, suggesting that researchers might be cutting corners especially since Russia has released no scientific data on its testing.
Amid fears that safety could have been compromised, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Russia to follow international guidelines for producing a vaccine against Covid-19. The Russian vaccine is not among the WHO’s list of six vaccines that have reached phase three clinical trials, which involve more widespread testing in humans.
“Sometimes individual researchers claim they have found something, which is of course is as such, great news,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters.
“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.” he added
More than 100 vaccines around the world are in early development, with some of those being tested on people in clinical trials. Despite rapid progress, most experts think a vaccine will not become widely available until mid-2021.
