President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia had become the first country to approve a vaccine offering “sustainable immunity” against the coronavirus and that one of his daughters has been inoculated.
Officials have said they plan to start mass vaccination in October.The vaccine is based on human adenovirus and contains dead COVID-19 particles which cannot multiply and are therefore safe, said Alexander Gintzburg, head of the Gamaleya center.
The vaccine is called GamCovidVac, standing for “Gamaleya Covid Vaccine.”
It is designed to be administered through two injections to prolong the immunity. The vaccine will be co-produced by the Gamaleya Center and Binnofarm, a Moscow-based pharmaceutical.
In the first phase, doctors, the elderly, and teachers will be immunized.
The US is leading with the most confirmed infections with 5.09 million, followed by Brazil with over 3 million cases and India with 2.27 million, according to data compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University. With nearly 900,000 cases, Russia is among the hardest-hit countries.
