Russia has produced the first batch of its new vaccine for Covid-19, the Interfax news agency quoted the health ministry as saying on Saturday, hours after the ministry reported the start of manufacturing.

Some scientists said they fear that with this fast regulatory approval Moscow may be putting national prestige before safety amid the global race to develop a vaccine against the disease.

Russia has said the vaccine, the first for the coronavirus to go into production, will be rolled out by the end of this month.

Its approval comes before trials that would normally involve thousands of participants, commonly known as Phase III. Such trials are usually considered essential precursors for a vaccine to secure regulatory approval.

The vaccine has been named “Sputnik V” in homage to the world’s first satellite launched by the Soviet Union. President Vladimir Putin has assured the public that it is safe, adding that one of his daughters had taken it as a volunteer and felt good afterwards.

Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, said previously that Russia would be producing about 5 million doses a month by December-January, Interfax said.

Doctors wary

A majority of Russian doctors do not not feel comfortable being injected with the new vaccine because of the lack of sufficient data about it and its super-fast approval, a survey of more than 3,000 medical professionals showed on Friday.

A survey of 3,040 doctors and health specialists, conducted by the “Doctor’s Handbook” mobile application and quoted on Friday by the RBC daily, showed 52 per cent were not ready to be vaccinated, while 24.5 per cent said they would agree to be given the vaccine.

Just a fifth of respondents said they would recommend the vaccine to patients, colleagues or friends.

Their misgivings are shared by some Russians who say they are too scared to try the vaccine, while others agree with their government that scepticism expressed by foreign experts is driven by jealousy.

The Russian vaccine’s approval comes before trials that would normally involve thousands of participants, commonly known as Phase III. Such trials are usually considered essential precursors for a vaccine to secure regulatory approval.

Putin has said the vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, was safe and that it had been administered to one of his daughters.

Health minister Mikhail Murashko rejected safety concerns aired by some experts over Moscow’s rapid approval of the drug as “groundless”.

The World Health Organisation says the vaccine approved by Russia this week is not among the nine that it considers in the advanced stages of testing. WHO and partners have included nine experimental Covid-19 vaccines within an investment mechanism it is encouraging countries to join, known as the Covax facility.