Russia becomes first country to register COVID-19 vaccine
Aug 11, 2020
Moscow [Russia], August 11 : The first COVID-19 vaccine in the world has been registered by Russia on Tuesday, reported Sputnik.
"As far as I know, for the first time in the world, a vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection was registered this morning," President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying at a meeting with the government.
"I hope we will be able to start mass production of this medication in the near future, which is very important," he further said.
The President also said one of his daughters has been given a shot of the COVID-19 vaccination.
"One of my daughters got vaccinated. In fact, she took part in an experiment. After the first vaccination, she had a [body] temperature of 38 degrees [Celcius, 100 degrees Fahrenheit], the next day slightly higher than 37 [degrees], that's all," he said.
Meanwhile, Russia's Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko has informed that the COVID-19 vaccine of Russian Microbiology Research Center Gamaleya has been registered. The vaccine proved to be safe and effective, he added.
According to the latest global update by the Johns Hopkins University, a total number of 20,092,855 people have been tested positive of coronavirus and 736,254 deaths have been reported so far.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on March 11.