Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Russian scientists are close to creating a cancer vaccine, which will soon be available for sufferers.

BREAKING: Putin says Russia is close to creating cancer vaccines

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) February 14, 2024

In televised remarks, Putin said that “we have come very close to creating so-called cancer vaccines or new generation immunomodulatory drugs.”

“I hope they will soon be used effectively as methods of personalised treatment,” he added, speaking at a forum on future technologies.

Putin did not specify which types of cancer the vaccines would target, or how.

Several countries and pharmaceutical companies are trying to create cancer vaccines. Last year the British government signed a deal with Germany-based BioNTech to start clinical trials for “personalised cancer treatments”, with the aim of reaching 10,000 sufferers by 2030.

Pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck & Co are developing an experimental cancer vaccine that in mid-stage research has shown to halve the chance of recurrence or death from melanoma – the most deadly skin cancer – after three years of treatment.

There are currently six approved vaccines against the human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes many cancers, including cervical cancer , according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as vaccines against hepatitis B (HBV), which can lead to lung cancer.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Russia developed its own Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 which it sold to some countries, although at home it was faced with a general reluctance of people to be vaccinated.

Putin himself was vaccinated with the Sputnik vaccine in an attempt to convince people of the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.