Russia coronavirus vaccine: Has Russia really found a vaccine? And does it work?

Russia’s coronavirus programme saw it miss out the third phase of testing, which is when scientists subject the vaccine to large-scale safety trials.

In the west, where vaccine and drug development follows strictly mapped pathways, the third phase should take months.

The Oxford and Imperial College vaccines have yet to make it through the phase, and they don’t expect to until early next year.

As such, experts are sceptical as to whether the vaccine truly works, or if Russia has put international prestige ahead of a safe sample.