Russia launched vaccine against coronavirus 'Sputnik V'

 

A medical worker holds a syringe and a vial in this arranged photograph taken at the Chaika Clinic in Moscow, Russia

• Moscow: 

  Russia on Tuesday declared itself the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine with President Vladimir Putin saying one of his daughters had been inoculated.

Amid the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a coronavirus vaccine, touted as the world's first such vaccine, too. The registration of the vaccine lays ground for mass inoculation even as the final stages of clinical trials to test safety and efficacy continue.

The announcement came in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 20 million people and killed nearly 750,000 worldwide, thus, crippling world economies.

Russia dubbed its newly launched vaccine against coronavirus "Sputnik V" after the Soviet satellite, the head of the country's sovereign wealth fund said, as per reports.

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund which finances the vaccine project, said Phase 3 trials would start on Wednesday, industrial production was expected from September and that 20 countries had pre-ordered more than a billion doses, AFP reported.