Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Russia has registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine — called Sputnik V — with state regulators for use. “As far as I know, this morning, for the first time in the world, a vaccine against a new coronavirus infection has been registered,” Putin told a meeting of government ministers. Last week, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is financing the vaccine trials, told NBC News that the vaccine is a “copycat” of the Ebola vaccine developed five years ago by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and a tweaked version of an earlier vaccine against the Middle East respiratory syndrome virus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Russia has registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine — called Sputnik V — with state regulators for use. “As far as I know, this morning, for the first time in the world, a vaccine against a new coronavirus infection has been registered,” Putin told a meeting of government ministers. Last week, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is financing the vaccine trials, told NBC News that the vaccine is a “copycat” of the Ebola vaccine developed five years ago by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and a tweaked version of an earlier vaccine against the Middle East respiratory syndrome virus.