Russia has announced on Saturday that it has produced the first batch of its COVID-19 vaccine, after President Vladimir Putin announced it had been first in the world to approve a vaccine.
Putin’s announcement on Tuesday about the vaccine was met with caution from the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientists who said it still needed a rigorous safety review.
The health ministry said in a statement said:
The first batch of the novel coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research institute has been produced.
According to the Russian President, the vaccine is safe and that one of his own daughters had been vaccinated, even though clinical trials were not yet complete and final stage testing involving more than 2,000 people only started this week.
Meanwhile, Western scientists have shown their skepticism, with some warning that accepting the vaccine too soon could be dangerous, but Russia denounced the criticism, describing it as an attempt to undermine the country’s research.
Developed by the Gamaleya research institute for epidemiology and microbiology, Moscow in collaboration with the Russian defence ministry, the Russian vaccine is called “Sputnik V” after the Soviet-era satellite that was the first launched into space in 1957.
Similarly, the head of the institute, Alexander Gintsburg, said, on Saturday, that volunteers taking part in the final stage testing of the vaccine’s safety and efficacy would have two inoculations.
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In the meantime, Russia has said that industrial production is expected from September and that it plans to manufacture 5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per month by December or January.
Mikhail Murashko, Russia’s Health Minister said this week that the vaccine would first be made available to medics and would later be available to all Russians on a voluntary basis.
Russia’s COVID-19 caseload is currently fourth in the world after the United States, Brazil and India, with more than 917,000 confirmed infections.
Reports say that the European nation has 92,000 people hospitalised with the virus and 2,900 in intensive care, according to the health ministry.
