A post claiming that Russia is the first country to develop COVID-19 vaccine is doing rounds on various social media platforms. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Russia developed a COVID-19 vaccine.
Fact: Vaccine for COVID-19 is not yet developed. Gamaleya University in Russia is conducting clinical trials and all the stages of the trials are not yet finished. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we ran a search on the internet using the key words ‘Russia COVID-19 vaccine’, we came cross ‘Financial Express’ news article, in which it is said that Gamaleya Institute of Russia’s Sechenov University has finished only first stage of clinical trials.
Sechenov University in an article published on its website on 13 July 2020, mentioned that Gamaleya Institute should make a decision on how to proceed with the next stages of clinical trials.
In a document released by the World Health Organization on 15 July 2020, it is mentioned that the first stage of clinical trials by Gamaleya University is underway. Whereas the third stage of clinical trials by other organizations found mention in the document.
Information regarding Gamaleya Insitute’s vaccine, which is on the clinical trials website of American government can be seen here and here. Same information on the World Health Organiztion’s clinical trials website can be seen here and here.
According to World Health Organization, clinical trials are conducted in four stages.
To conclude, Russia has not yet developed the vaccine for COVID-19, clinical trials are still underway.
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