Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly ordered Wednesday the start of a “large-scale” vaccination of teachers and doctors using the Russian coronavirus vaccine.
Putin said more than 2 million doses of the vaccine has been or will be produced over the next few days, according to the Associated Press (AP).
“This gives us the opportunity to start if not mass, but large-scale vaccination, of course, as we agreed, of the two risk groups – doctors and teachers,” Putin said, according to the AP. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova is tasked with organizing “the work in such a way so that large-scale vaccination starts by the end of next week,” the AP reports.
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that at least 100,000 people in Russia have already been given the vaccine, according to the AP. (RELATED: United Airlines Flight Carrying First Doses Of Pfizer Vaccine Arrives In Chicago As Part Of Distribution Plan)
Kirill Dmitriyev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled the vaccine, said around 25,000 of the 100,000 of the people were vaccinated as part of a clinical trial while the rest were volunteers, mostly medical workers.
The U.K. announced it approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Help is on its way.
The MHRA has formally authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for Covid-19.
The NHS stands ready to start vaccinating early next week.
The UK is the first country in the world to have a clinically approved vaccine for supply.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) December 2, 2020
Sputnik V , the name of the Russian vaccine, was approved in early August despite the Association of Clinical Trials Organizations warning Russia against fast-tracking the vaccine, which reportedly hadn’t undergone widespread testing. The World Health Organization also warned of rushing to produce a vaccine, noting that all vaccines should go through all stages of testing before being licensed, according to Bloomberg News.
An advanced study was conducted among 40,000 volunteers two weeks after the government approved the vaccine, according to the AP.
Russia reported in November that their vaccine was 92% effective following Pfizer’s announcement that their vaccine was over 90% effective, according to Reuters. However, experts warned Russia’s results stem from a small group of 20 volunteers who were infected during the trials, according to the report.