The Russian government has granted regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, making them the first country in the world to do so.
After just two months of human trials, the vaccine was described as working “quite effectively” by president Vladimir Putin, according to EWN. The vaccine had reportedly been administered to Putin’s daughter. “It…forms strong immunity, and I repeat, it has passed all the needed checks,” said Putin.
The final stage of clinical trials, called a Phase 3 trial, includes thousands of participants and is used to indicate effectiveness on the broadest sample of a population. This stage of vaccine trials usually precede regulatory approval by a country’s health ministry but has yet to be completed, and Russia’s decision to approve the vaccine for mass inoculation ahead of this phase is raising eyebrows across the world’s scientific community.
The country’s medical workers, teachers and other at-risk groups will be the first to be inoculated in October, reports The Guardian.
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