Russia plans to start mass coronavirus vaccinations in October, with the Health Minister Mikhail Murashko confirming that they will start with doctors and teachers.
Reuters reported that the vaccine would get regulatory approval this month before mass production and mass vaccination exercise.
The timing would make Russia the first country to have a vaccine in a race against time as more people are being infected, and as the competition for potential business in the vaccine ramps up.
The US, UK, Germany, India, China among others are in the works developing their own vaccines with the earliest projected being by the end of the year.
Some experts have however doubted the vaccine being prepared by Russia.
Leading infectious disease expert in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, said he hoped that Russia – and China – were “actually testing the vaccine” before administering them to anyone.
Dr Fauci has said that the US should have a “safe and effective” vaccine by the end of this year.
“I do not believe that there will be vaccines so far ahead of us that we will have to depend on other countries to get us vaccines,” he told US lawmakers.
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