Russia Registers World’s First COVID-19 Vaccine, Which Was Tested On Putin’s Daughter

One month after Russia’s Gamelei Institute finished the first experimental vaccine trials on clinical subjects at Moscow’s state medical college, Russia has set an international precedent by becoming the first country to register a COVID-19 vaccine with international medical authorities.

Russia declared the vaccine “ready for use” despite “international skepticism,” the Associated Press reported. Putin made the announcement during a “government meeting”, where he also revealed that one of his own daughters had participated in the experimental trials.

“I would like to repeat that it has passed all the necessary tests,” he said. “The most important thing is to ensure full safety of using the vaccine and its efficiency.”

The trials established that a single course of the Russian vaccine is enough to establish immunity to COVID-19, while side-effects were minimal, with slight fevers appearing in Putin’s daughter, and other subjecst.

“As far as I know, a vaccine against the coronavirus infection has been registered this morning (in Russia) for the first time in the world,” the President told members of the government. “I thank everyone who worked on the vaccine – it’s a very important moment for the whole world.”

Of course, it’s worth noting that Russia-linked hackers were accused of spying on and possibly stealing vaccine-related “medical secrets” gleaned form research conducted in the UK.

Putin insisted that vaccination in Russia should only be carried out on a voluntary basis.

“I know that it works rather effectively, forms a stable immunity, and, I repeat, it passed all the necessary inspections,” the President added.

While the west raised alarms about potential safety issues caused by Russian “recklessness”, Vadim Tarasov, a top scientist at Moscow’s Sechenov University, where the trials took place, said Russia the country had a “head start” as it has spent the last 2 decades dedicating significant resources to the virus. The technology behind the Russian vaccine is based upon adenovirus, otherwise known as the common cold, he added. Created artificially, the vaccine proteins replicate those of COVID-19 and trigger “an immune response similar to that caused by the coronavirus itself,” Tarasov revealed.

Nikolay Briko, the Russian Health Ministry’s chief non-resident epidemiologist, echoed these sentiments.”This vaccine wasn’t developed from scratch, the Gamelei Research Center had a serious, significant research base on vaccines,” he was quoted as saying. “The technology of developing such a vaccine was perfected. So perhaps, the process was sped up due to the fact that the vaccine was not created from scratch. It is important that all stages (of vaccine research) are followed and that international requirements are adhered to.”

To try and reassure the Russian public, Putin declared his daughter, who participated in the “experiment” suffered only a mild fever that quickly went away.

“One of my daughters got the vaccine. In this sense, she took part in the experiment. After the first vaccination, she had a temperature of 38, the next day – 37 and that was all.”

The news that Putin administered the vaccine to his own daughter elicited some snickers on Twitter.

Nothing says ‘we have a great vaccine’ than also saying ‘No, you can’t see our scientific data on the vaccine testing’

— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) August 11, 2020

Did Putin’s daughter know she was getting the vaccine?

— Ivan the K™ (@IvanTheK) August 11, 2020

But believe it or not (clearly, the reporters at the AP are still skeptical), news of the world’s first registered vaccine sent futures higher in premarket trading.

Of course, Russia’s playing fast and loose with the “rules” allowed the experimental vaccine to be tested on Russian “elites” as early as April.

The first doses of the vaccine will be reserved for health-care workers and other vulnerable parties, Putin said. Russia says it hopes the vaccine will be available for mass innoculation early next year.