WHO cautious of Russia's coronavirus vaccine program, says 'nothing official yet'
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that it is cautious of Russia's coronavirus vaccination program which they have not received any official news about.
Russia's Health Minister has said that the coronavirus vaccine that was developed in the Gamaleya institute in Moscow has completed its clinical trials and is 100% safe and effective. Russia is planning to register the vaccine within the next few days and immunize doctors and teachers this month before launching a mass vaccination campaign in October.
The WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, when asked about the vaccine in the UN press briefing, said that they must be careful while examining such reports. "We have to be always careful when any such measures or highlights or reports come out," said Lindmeier, adding that the exact meaning of such reports needs to be examined.
"Sometimes, individual researchers claim they have found something which is of course as such great news. But between finding or having a clue of maybe having a vaccine that works and having gone through all the stages, is a big difference," he said.
He further added, "We have not seen anything official that's important. And if there was anything official, then our colleagues in the European office would definitely look into this."
On its website, the WHO lists 25 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation and 139 in preclinical assessment.
