Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday during a weekly cabinet meeting that they have finally developed the first and effective vaccine against the Ebola virus, per the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. However, many health officials and experts from around the world immediately doubted Putin's claim.

"We have good news. We have registered a medicine for the Ebola fever, which after the relevant tests, has proven to have a high effectiveness, higher than those drugs which until now have been used in the world," Putin said as translated by Sputnik News.

In a report by RT10, Putin has authorized the start of supplying the vaccine to Guinea, where the Ebola outbreak happened in 2013. The Russian government reportedly registered two vaccines for Ebola back in December last year, one of which helps people become immune to the deadly disease.

The vaccines were developed in the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences with the help of the Russian Health and Defense ministries. Other vaccines for the virus are being developed by the United States company Merck with the help of the World Health Organization while Great Britain also designed a vaccine for people already having Ebola immunodeficiency.

According to a trial of 4,000 people in Guinea in 2015, the Merck vaccine has an extremely high success rate and is currently on Phase 3 of clinical trials, per ABC News. Putin did not give any additional details regarding the vaccines which drew the skepticism of experts around the world considering Russia just conducted its Phase 1 of clinical trials last October.

"They were always very sketchy. They never provided any data at all. Just concepts. It was just the beginning of their study. Their product was nowhere near ready. They just finished their Phase 1 study now," Ira Longini, a professor part of the Merck vaccine trials said.

"Even if they got their vaccine through Phase 2, they wouldn't be able to test it. You have to have Ebola transmission happening somewhere to test it," he added. Longini also noted that before Russia can use its vaccine, a proof of efficacy is needed to obtain a license. The tests for the vaccine's efficacy are mainly done during Phase 3 of the clinical trials.

Putin's announcement comes a day before the WHO declares Liberia and the rest of West Africa Ebola-free. According to BBC, more than 11,000 people from West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia died since December 2013 due to the virus.