Putin said on Tuesday Russia is the first nation to approve a COVID-19 vaccine after only two months of human testing, a move Moscow compared to its success in the Cold War-era space race.

They claim to have tested it on Putin's daughter. The vaccine is called 'Sputnik V'.

No clinical trials yet.

From Reuters:

Moscow’s decision to grant approval before then has raised concerns among some experts. Only about 10% of clinical trials are successful and some scientists fear Moscow may be putting national prestige before safety.

Putin and other officials have said it is completely safe. The president said one of his daughters had taken it as a volunteer and felt good afterwards.

(...) The vaccine is administered in two doses and consists of two serotypes of a human adenovirus, each carrying an S-antigen of the new coronavirus, which enter human cells and produce an immune response.

The platform used for the vaccine was developed by Russian scientists over two decades and had formed the basis for several vaccines in the past, including those against Ebola.

Read more at Reuters: Putin hails new Sputnik moment as Russia is first to approve a COVID-19 vaccine[Gabrielle T'etrault-Farber, Vladimir Soldatkin]

PHOTO: SPUTNIK/KREMLIN, Vladimir Putin, August 11, 2020 Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/putin-names-russia-coronavirus.html