Top Russian Officials, Businessmen Received Shots Of Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine In April: Reports

Top Russian government officials and executives received shots of the experimental coronavirus vaccine as early as April, a report published online claims.

According to the report that takes clues from several anonymous sources, the Russian elites received the experimental COVID-19 vaccine dose even before human trials began in the country to check the efficacy and safety.

The report has surfaced a few days after the U.S. security officials blamed Russia for planning cyberattacks on the two British labs working on the research and development of coronavirus vaccine.

The recent media report claims that many officials came forward to reveal that they received doses of COVID-19 vaccine, however, they requested their names to be kept anonymous. The report also referred to many unnamed sources who revealed the names of billionaires as well as executives who received early access to the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamalei Institute in Moscow.

The sources even revealed that executives at aluminum giant Rusal, owned by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, also received access to the experimental vaccine even before it was subjected to testing in humans.

Out of all the individuals named, dozens confirmed having access to the vaccine but did not allow their names to be published online. Dozens of people are said to have been a part of this program, however, how or on what basis they were selected is not yet own.

Another media outlet confirmed knowing at least one individual who was offered the experimental vaccine shot. The unnamed source received two doses and is known to have developed a fever after receiving the first dose.

The Director of the Gamalei Institute, Alexander Gintsburg, had said before that some of the members of the staff ended up self-administering the coronavirus vaccine being developed and the decision received a lot of backlash from the scientific community.

One of Russia’s business elite who came out publicly confessing that he and his family received the COVID-19 vaccine early is Kirill Dmitriev. He is known to be a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Dmitriev’s funds are expected to boost the production of as many as 30 million doses of the Russian coronavirus vaccine by the end of 2020. He is hopeful that it will become the first COVID-19 vaccine to be officially approved for public use.