Russia COVID-19 vaccine: Here are the countries that are interested in buying

 

• WHO says Russia's COVID-19 vaccine is not among the nine that it considers in the advanced stages of testing
• Vietnam has registered to buy Russian COVID-19 vaccine, state television reported

Russia became the first country in the world to register a COVID-19 vaccine. Russian President Vlamdimir Putin asserted that the vaccine "has passed all the necessary tests." Dubbed as Sputnik V, the vaccine was developed by Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian defence ministry. The vaccine is expected to provide immunity from the coronavirus for up to two years, according to Russian health ministry.

Clinical human studies started June 17 among 76 volunteers. Russia registered the vaccine after less than two months of human testing. The vaccine's approval came before trials that would normally involve thousands of participants, commonly known as Phase III.

What WHO is saying:

The World Health Organization says the vaccine approved by Russia this week is not among the nine that it considers in the advanced stages of testing. “We don't have sufficient information at this point to make a judgment" on the Russia vaccine, said Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to WHO's director-general.

What world leaders are saying:

Vietnam has registered to buy a Russian COVID-19 vaccine, state television reported on Friday. Vietnam has signed up for 50-150 million doses of the vaccine, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

Israel will examine Russia's COVID-19 vaccine and enter negotiations to buy it if it is found to be a "serious product", Israel's health minister said.

The Philippines said it will launch clinical trials of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine. The trials would begin in October and, if they were successful, the Sputnik V vaccine would be registered for public use by April 2021.

A majority of Russian doctors would not feel comfortable being injected with Russia's new COVID-19 vaccine due to the lack of sufficient data about it and its super-fast approval, a survey of more than 3,000 medical professionals showed.

A survey of 3,040 doctors and health specialists, conducted by the "Doctor's Handbook" mobile application and quoted on Friday by the RBC daily, showed 52% were not ready to be vaccinated, while 24.5% said they would agree to be given the vaccine.