MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci has doubts that Russia duly established the safety and efficiency of its coronavirus vaccine, he said at a virtual event hosted by National Geographic on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Russia announced registering the world's first coronavirus vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, set to be produced industrially. President Vladimir Putin has endorsed the vaccine, saying it has passed all necessary checks and is capable of building a strong immunity against the coronavirus.
"I hope that the Russians have actually, definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective," Fauci told the event moderator, as quoted by National Geographic, adding "I seriously doubt that they've done that."
As argued by the health official, "having a vaccine ... and proving that a vaccine is safe and effective are two different things."
The Russian vaccine was developed jointly by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defense Ministry. A total of 76 volunteers have participated in the clinical trials until now. Russian officials estimated the production capacity at 500 million doses in the next 12 months, including at facilities abroad.
