La Grande-Motte (France) (AFP)

French health minister Olivier Véran stressed on Tuesday that France and Europeans are "waiting for large laboratories to have a vaccine", while Russia claimed to have developed the "first vaccine" against the coronavirus .

"I do not have to give my confidence to this Russian vaccine," said the French minister when asked about the announcements of Russian President Vladimir Poutine.

"We are not in the approach of a French doctor, we are in a European approach (...) which works with all the major laboratories to ensure that we have access to a vaccine," he said. added during a trip to the seaside resort of La Grande-Motte, near Montpellier, in the south of France.

"For now, from what I have to know from the scientific studies that have appeared, we are waiting for large laboratories to have a vaccine," he insisted.

"Obviously I hope that it will arrive as soon as possible. Some people talk to us about autumn, others talk to us about the first half of 2021", he added.

Vladimir Putin has shown his ambition to put into production in September what he presents as the "first" vaccine against the coronavirus, called "Sputnik V", but for the World Health Organization (WHO), this affirmation has yet to be independently and scientifically verified.

"All the European countries under the aegis of the European Commission are working with all the laboratories so that as soon as a laboratory has a proven vaccine, we can immediately benefit not only the French population, but also the European population, as well as the countries which "do not necessarily have access to the vaccine market", declared Mr. Véran.

The German Ministry of Health expressed doubts on Tuesday on the "quality, effectiveness and safety" of the vaccine against the new coronavirus announced by Vladimir Putin.

© 2020 AFP