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Russia has declared that it has completed the world's first coronavirus vaccine. It is said that it will go on sale from January of next year, but there are many voices of doubt that the safety has not been properly verified in order to release the vaccine before other countries.

This is reporter Kim Kyung-hee.

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Russian President Putin announced that the world's first COVID-19 vaccine was officially registered.

[Putin/Russian President: This vaccine is very effective. It forms enough antibodies to elicit an immune response between cells.]


Putin emphasized that his daughter had also participated in the clinical trial and that all verification procedures had been completed, but only the first and second small clinical trials were conducted.

Russian authorities say they will start vaccinations by medical staff at the end of this month and sell them from January next year.

It is observed that Russia skipped the phase 3 clinical trial and announced the completion of the vaccine in a hurry when some pharmaceutical companies and research institutes in the United States, China and the United Kingdom are expected to complete phase 3 clinical trials at the end of this year.

Experts from all over the world have expressed concerns about the safety of the vaccine.

[Pouch/President of the US National Institute of Infectious Diseases: I hope that Russia has reliably verified the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, but I am very doubtful whether they did that.]

There are more than 150 COVID-19 vaccines being developed by countries around the world.

Some point out that Russia's full-blown announcement could provoke the hasty declaration of vaccine development and vaccination by leaders of each country, including President Trump.

In this regard, U.S. National Institutes of Health Chief Collins said that the COVID-19 vaccine will never be approved by political motives.

(Video editing: Seungyeol Lee)