Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends via video the inauguration ceremonies for new medical centers built by Russia’s Defense Ministry in the Dagestan, Voronezh, and Penza regions. | Alexei Druzhinin/TASS via Getty Images

Health experts say it’s irresponsible.

The entire world wants an effective Covid-19 vaccine. This week, Russia claimed it has one.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country had become the first to register a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. “I know that it works quite effectively, forms strong immunity, and I repeat, it has passed all the needed checks,” Putin said on state-run television, according to Reuters. His daughter has even received it, he added.

The vaccine is called “Sputnik V,” a sign Russia very much sees this as a tool of propaganda. “In 1957 the successful launch of the first space satellite by the Soviet Union reinvigorated