Russia has dismissed criticisms regarding the development of its new coronavirus vaccine by western European Nations including the UK, US as well as the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Russia announced on Tuesday that its health regulatory body had approved a coronavirus vaccine it named Sputnik V, after two months of human trials.
Although the vaccine is yet to go through the third phase of trials which will include thousands of human subjects, Russian President, Vladmir Putin described it as safe, saying one of his daughters had been inoculated with it. Mass production is expected to commence in September.
The WHO claimed that the data surrounding the production of the new vaccine could not be verified, saying it urged Russian authorities to allow for an independent verification by its health experts.
Researchers in the United States and other western European countries criticized the vaccine, saying Russian researchers may have cut corners given the speed with which the vaccine was announced. Most countries undertaking coronavirus vaccine research say one may not be ready until 2021.
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On Wednesday, the Health Minister, Mikhail Murashko reacted to allegations that the anti-covid drug was not safe for human use, and wished the US and other critics good luck in developing their own coronavirus vaccines.
The Health Minister stated that the criticisms were baseless and driven by competition.
The Head of the Sovereign Wealth Fund for Russia, Kirill Dmitriev accused western countries of bias and stated that Russian authorities did not expect anything less.
“We are not trying to convince the U.S. Our point to the world is that we have this technology, it can be available in your country in November/December if that works with your regulator… We wish them good luck in developing theirs.”