Russia virus vaccine approval met with concern

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

President Vladimir Putin announced the Health Ministry's approval and said one of his two adult daughters was already inoculated.

He said the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and was shown to provide lasting immunity to COVID-19, although Russian authorities have offered no proof to back up claims of safety or effectiveness.

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

Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton said on Tuesday that it appears the vaccine has been tested only on a "few-dozen people" and that would be "way too early in the 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 the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.

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