WHO urges Russia to follow guidelines on virus vaccine

The World Health Organization urges Russia to follow the established guidelines for producing safe and effective vaccines after Moscow announced plans to start swiftly producing COVID-19 jabs.

Russia said yesterday it aims to launch mass production of a coronavirus vaccine in September and turn out “several million” doses per month by next year.

Asked about the developments in Russia, the WHO stresses that all vaccine candidates should go through the full stages of testing before being rolled out.

“There are established practices and there are guidelines out,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier tells reporters at the United Nations in Geneva. “Any vaccine…[or medicine] for this purpose should be, of course, going through all the various trials and tests before being licensed for roll-out,” he says.

— AFP