Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially registered a coronavirus vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, CNN has reported.
Revealing the news on Russian state TV on Tuesday (August 11), Putin said: "A vaccine against coronavirus has been registered for the first time in the world this morning.
"I know that it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity."
The Russian President added: "So we're the first to have registered. I hope our foreign colleagues' work will move as well, and a lot of products will appear on an international market that could be used."
Putin also revealed that one of his daughters has taken the vaccine, adding that after experiencing a slightly higher temperature following the injections, but she now feels healthy.
"I know this very well too, as one of my daughters has been inoculated with the vaccine," he said.
"I think that this way she participated in the experiment. After the first injection her temperature was 38 [degrees Celsius], the next day 37-something and that's it. After the second injection the temperature also got a bit higher but that's it, then it went back down. Now she feels well."
Per BBC News, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the vaccine had "proven to be highly effective and safe", touting it as a big step towards "humankind's victory" over the novel coronavirus.
Per Reuters, Putin added that he hopes the country will soon start mass-producing the vaccine.
Its approval by the health ministry means that a larger trial involving thousands of participants - commonly known as a 'Phase III trial' - will now take place.
Russia has released no scientific data on its vaccine testing and there has currently been no reports to verify its claimed safety or effectiveness.