Russia virus vaccine approval met with concern

Russia on Tuesday became first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a move that was met with international skepticism due to small sample it was trialed on.

President Vlimir Putin anunced Health Ministry's approval and said one of his two ult daughters was alrey iculated.

He said vaccine underwent necessary tests and was shown to provide lasting immunity to COVID-19, although Russian authorities have offered proof to back up claims of safety or effectiveness.

However, scientists in Russia and or countries sounded an alarm, saying that rushing to offer vaccine before final-st testing could backfire.

Michael He, senior research fellow in global health at University of Southampton said on Tuesday that it appears vaccine has been tested only on a "few-dozen people" and that would be "way too early in process to actually approve a vaccine".

International standards require a Phase 3 trial — which involves tens of thousands of people and can take months — and is only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.

By comparison, vaccines entering final-st testing in US require studies of 30,000 people each.