A senior expert of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it is currently in conversation with Russia to get additional information about the COVID-19 vaccine that Russia will start production soon.

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Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to WHO's director-general, told a press conference on August 13 that WHO does not have sufficient information at this point to make a judgment on the Russian vaccine, Xinhua news agency reported. He told reporters that with the coordination of WHO, there are altogether nine vaccine candidates that are going through Phase 2 or 3 trials, but the Russian vaccine is not one of them.

The Russian President announced August 11 that the country has registered the world's first registered vaccine against the novel coronavirus. Later on August 12, the Russian Health Minister said that the country will start the production of the vaccine within two weeks. The Russian Health Minister also said that doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccine are unfounded.