Russia officials on vaccine, global cooperation

Russia's Health Minister Mikhail Murashko on Wednesday said 100,000 people have received the nation's domestically developed vaccine as President Vladimir Putin ordered a "large-scale" COVID-19 immunisation campaign.

Speaking to the UN via videolink, Murashko also revealed that "high-risk population groups" were given the Sputnik V vaccine as clinical trials for the immunisation continued.

Russia has touted Sputnik V, as the world's "first registered COVID-19 vaccine" after the government gave it regulatory approval in early August.

However, giving the shots the go-ahead drew considerable criticism from experts, because at the time the Sputnik V only had been tested on several dozen people.

Murashko also told the UN that "collected data" has shown that the vaccine causes a "strong antibody and cell-immune response" in those who receive the immunisation.

His comments were made on the same day Putin said that more than 2 million doses of the Sputnik V jab "has been produced or will have been produced in the next few days."

The Russian president made the announcement hours after Britain became the first country in the West to authorise the use of a vaccine against the coronavirus developed by US drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.

Kirill Dmitriyev, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled Sputnik V's development urged nations to "forget about politics" and said "togetherness" was integral in defeating the coronavirus pandemic.

Russia’s total of over 2.3 million confirmed cases is currently the fourth-largest caseload in the world.