Russia registers 1st coronavirus vaccine in the world

The first coronavirus vaccine in the world has been registered in Russia, the country’s President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday. The vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center, has an official registration with the Russian Health Ministry, Putin told a meeting with members of the government in Moscow. Putin added that the vaccine trials yielded positive results, with all volunteers having built up immunity to the coronavirus. 

The vaccine is based on adenovirus and contains dead COVID-19 particles which cannot multiply and are therefore safe, said Alexander Gintzburg, head of the center.

However, it can provoke an immune response such as high temperature to the introduction of foreign substances, he added.

Since appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and territories.

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.

Russian has had some 891,000 cases to date.