Russian President Vladimir Putin has said a locally developed vaccine for Covid-19 has been given regulatory approval after less than two months of testing on humans.
Putin said the vaccine had passed all the required checks, adding that his daughter had already been given it.
President Putin said the vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, offered “sustainable immunity” against the coronavirus.
He said he knew the vaccine was “quite effective”, without giving further details, and stressed that it had passed “all needed checks”.
Putin also said the vaccine had been given to one of his daughters, who was feeling fine despite a brief temperature increase.
“I think in this sense she took part in the experiment,” Mr Putin said.
Last week, the Russian government announced it was preparing to begin mass vaccinations against coronavirus in October.
Russian scientists said early-stage trials of the vaccine had been completed and the results were a success.
The Russian vaccine uses adapted strains of the adenovirus, a virus that usually causes the common cold, to trigger an immune response.