Russia is aiming for an approved COVID-19 vaccine in the next fortnight to portray itself as a global science leader, but there are major concerns over a lack of data and testing

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• Russia is aiming to have a COVID-19 vaccine approved for public use by August 10, which would make it the first approved vaccine in the world, Russian officials told CNN.
• Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, compared the vaccine's quick development to Russia launching the first successful satellite in 1957, beating the US to it.
• "It's a Sputnik moment," he said. "Americans were surprised when they heard Sputnik's beeping. It's the same with this vaccine. Russia will have got there first."
• He also said that scientists had not rushed to be first, but were focused on protecting people in Russia, as cases continued to climb.
• As of July 29, Russia had the fourth most cases in the world, with 822,060 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 13,483 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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Russia is gunning to have the world's first coronavirus vaccine ready in the next fortnight, but there's still a lot that's not known about it, and doubts over whether it will be effective, according to a new report.  

A COVID-19 vaccine, created by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, aims to be approved for public use by August 10, then administered to frontline medical workers, while it simultaneously goes through a third phase of tests, Russian officials told CNN. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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• Russia has been publishing English-language articles to spread COVID-19 disinformation to Americans, US officials said. It could skew the 2020 elections as it did in 2016.

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