Putin says Russia develops world's first vaccine against coronavirus
Moscow: President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced that Russia has developed the world's first vaccine against COVID-19 that works "quite effectively" and forms a "stable immunity" against the disease as he disclosed that one of his daughters has already been vaccinated.
"A vaccine against coronavirus has been registered for the first time in the world this morning," Putin said during a meeting with members of his government.
"I know that it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity," the official Tass news agency quoted Putin as saying.
Putin's claim has come amidst concerns raised by experts about the speed of Russia's work, suggesting that researchers might be cutting corners.
Amid fears that safety could have been compromised, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Russia last week to follow international guidelines for producing a vaccine against COVID-19, the BBC reported.
The Russian vaccine is not among the WHO's list of six vaccines that have reached phase three clinical trials, which involve more widespread testing in humans, the report noted.
Putin said that one of his daughters had tested a Russian COVID-19 vaccine on herself and that she is feeling well. He said that the first Russian COVID-19 vaccine forms stable cell and antibody immunity.
"I know this very well, because one of my daughters got vaccinated, so in this sense, she took part in testing," Putin said.
The vaccine has been named Sputnik-V. The name is a reference to the surprise 1957 launch of the world's first satellite by the Soviet Union.
The treatment is yet to go through crucial Phase 3 trials where it would be administered to thousands of people.
President Putin noted that after the first vaccine shot, his daughter had a 38 C fever, and on the next day, a fever slightly higher than 37 C.
"And then, after the second shot, she had a slight fever again, and then everything was fine, she is feeling well and has a high [antibody] count," Putin said.
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that clinical trials of the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry were over.
Medical workers and teachers will be the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine, he said.
"We will begin the stage-by-stage civilian use of the vaccine. First and foremost, we would like to offer vaccination to those who come into contact with infected persons at work. These are medical workers. And also those who are responsible for children's health - teachers," the minister said.
The vaccine has two separately-injected components that together are expected to build a long-term immunity against the virus, the Sputniknews reported.
Clinical trials of the vaccine kicked off on June 18 and included 38 volunteers. All of the participants developed immunity. The first group was discharged on July 15, the second group on July 20.
It will appear in circulation starting on January 1, 2021, the website of the State Register of Pharmaceuticals reported on Tuesday.
"Date of introduction to the civilian circulation - 01.01.2021," the site noted.
It had been reported that the Gamaleya centre has developed two forms of the vaccine - a liquid and a freeze-dried one. Health Minister Murashko said that the vaccine against the coronavirus infection will be produced in Russia on two sites.
Russia has received a request for the production of one billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from 20 states, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said during an online conference.
"We have received preliminary requests for the purchase of over 1 bln doses of the vaccine from 20 states. We are ready to ensure production of over 500 mln vaccine doses along with our foreign partners in five countries, and we plan to increase our production capacity further," he said.
According to Dmitriev, several Latin American, Middle Eastern and Asian states have expressed an interest in purchasing the Russian vaccine. Several contracts have been finalised.
He noted that the RDIF had agreed to hold the third stage of clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine abroad with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other states.
According to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, coronavirus has infected more than 20 million people worldwide.
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3 US troops killed, 5 seriously wounded during Iran attacks, military says
Washington (AP): Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the US attacks on Iran, the military said Sunday, marking the first American casualties in a major offensive that has sparked retaliation from the Islamic Republic.
US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths in a post on X but did not say when and where they occurred. The statement said “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions” and were going to return to duty.
Central Command described the situation “as fluid” and said it would withhold the identities of the service members who were killed for 24 hours after their families were notified.
The US military also denied Iranian claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was struck with ballistic missiles, saying on X that the “missiles launched didn't even come close.”
President Donald Trump had warned that American troops could be killed or injured in the operation.
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” the Republican president said in a video address released early Saturday. “That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future.”
Following the US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other leaders, Iran's counterattacks have struck US bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever targeting Israeli and American military installations.
Before the strikes, Trump had built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades. The arrival of the Lincoln and three accompanying guided-missile destroyers at the end of January bolstered the number of warships in the region.
The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to the Middle East.
The Ford was part of the US raid in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. The operation in January claimed no American lives but left seven US troops with gunshot wounds and shrapnel-related injuries.
One of those injured received the Medal of Honor during Trump's State of the Union address last week. Trump said Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover piloted the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter that descended on the “heavily protected military fortress” where Maduro was staying.
Trump has launched several military operations during his second term, including strikes on members of the Islamic State group in Syria in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter in December.
The US military has also struck IS forces in Nigeria, after Trump accused the West African country's government of failing to rein in the targeting of Christians.
