Russia announces first Coronavirus Vaccine, President Putin's daughter vaccinated: Check the details here

Russia has launched the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, making it the first country to successfully register the vaccine. The news of Russia registering its first vaccine against the virus was announced earlier on August 8 by Oleg Gridnev, Deputy Health Minister.

In the efforts of finding the cure for coronavirus, six candidates of vaccines around the world have entered phase three of human trials and as per the reports, one of Russia’s candidates has completed all the three phases of human clinical trials.

The vaccine to be launched by Russia has been developed jointly by the Russian Defence Ministry and the Gamaleya Research Institute. Reportedly, Russia will also begin producing the vaccine soon and has plans for a massive, country-wide vaccine drive.

President Vladimir Putin's daughter vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine:

On the development of the first COVID-19 vaccine by Russia, President Vladimir Putin during a televised video conference call with the ministers announced that for the first time in the world, a vaccine against COVID-19 has been registered.

He further informed that one of his daughters has also been vaccinated and in this sense, she also took a part in the experiment.

Earlier in August 2020, the Russian government had announced of launching mass production of vaccine within weeks and further several million doses per month by 2021. 

Russia to begin the production of vaccine:

As per the reports, Russia’s first potential vaccine for COVID-19 will be approved by the regulators in August and the production will begin in September 2020.

The Institute which plans to start the serial production in September has been working on serial production with three enterprises, which are R-Pharm, Generium, and Binnopharm.

Denis Manturov, Industry and Trade Minister of Russia informed that as no exact numbers are given, several thousands of doses will be produced each month in 2020 and by 2021, Russian companies will be able to produce several million doses of Gamaleya National Institute’s vaccine.

Russia’s plan of mass vaccination by October 2020:

Health Minister of Russia, Murashko while commenting on the mass vaccination had informed that the government is planning on starting a mass campaign against the COVID-19 in October 2020. As per the reports, the vaccines will be first given to the teachers and the doctors.

The wider vaccination will be launched in October as the Russian government has also been planning of launching a new system of treatment gradually.

WHO on Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been tracking various candidates of the COVID-19 vaccine and has made no mention of the vaccine clearing all the three phases of the human trials.

As Russia has not published any findings from its vaccine clinical trials, it was only on July 13 that the reports came out claiming that their two-part phase 1 trial was a success. As Russia lacks proper guidelines and measures, health Experts have been worried that the country is cutting corners and is fast-tracking the process by putting people on risks.

Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson, had mentioned that sometimes individual researchers claim that they have found something but between finding or having a clue of having a vaccine that might work, and having to go through from all the stages, is a big difference.

The Organisation has also urged the country to follow the established guidelines in order to produce a safe and effective vaccine.