JUST IN: Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a Covid-19 vaccine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a Covid-19 vaccine. Russia would soon start mass-producing the vaccine

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially approved the mass production of a locally developed vaccine for Covid-19

According to reports, it has been given regulatory approval after less than two months of testing on humans.

Mr Putin who said the vaccine had passed all the required checks, adding that his daughter had already been given it.

Officials have said they plan to start mass vaccination in October.

Experts have raised concerns 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.

On Tuesday, the WHO said it had been in talks with Russian authorities about undertaking a review of the vaccine.

Currently, 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.

Presdient Putin Called it a world first vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, offered “sustainable immunity” against the coronavirus.

He said he knew the vaccine was “quite effective”, without giving further details, and stressed that it had passed “all needed checks”.

He also revealed that the vaccine had been given to one of his daughters, who was feeling fine despite a brief temperature increase.

“I think in this sense she took part in the experiment,” Mr Putin said.

He did not specify which of his two daughters had received the vaccine. It is rare for President Putin to talk publicly about his daughters. The lives of his daughters, named Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova in media reports, have been shrouded in secrecy.