Former Act Party leader Don Brash wants to bring Russia's Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V to New Zealand.

He is involved in a new company set up to strike a deal with the Russian vaccine manufacturer.

Dr Brash says any vaccine would be subject to vigorous testing and needs Medsafe approval.

"Whether it's from Russia, Oxford or China - the key point is to get it here quickly and it cannot come in unless the government gives it the OK."

Brash said there is "a bit of Soviet Union sentiment behind" the scepticism.

However, Auckland University Vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris isn't confident in the transparency of the data supporting the vaccine.

"I have seen the dossier of a Russian vaccine presented from previous years - and it was missing a lot of what you would consider pertinent data to making an assessment."

Dr Petousis-Harris said the vaccine is unsafe - and she doesn't think they'll get very far.

"These things need to be approved, there's a process.  Medsafe has that responsibility, and there are a lot of people advising the Government as well, experts in this field."

Earlier this month, Russia announced that it will begin post-registration clinical trials for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate next week, and 40,000 people will participate.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said during a telebriefing with journalists that the trials will take place in several countries.

"We're going to do clinical trials not just in Russia but also the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, probably in Brazil or in India," Dmitriev said. He also said that a delegation from the Saudi Ministry of Health would be travelling to Moscow next week.

Experts are sceptical about how quickly the vaccine, named Sputnik V, was registered and how few details about the research have been released.

Dmitriev said on Thursday that Russia would try to answer Western criticism over the lack of information about its vaccine candidate by publishing a detailed science paper in a "major publication" in August. He declined to name the publication where the study would publish.

He also refused to give an exact number for how many people have tested the vaccine already.