CNBC’s Jim Cramer on ‘Chernobyl II’ Russian coronavirus vaccine: ‘I’m gonna pass’

CNBC’s Jim Cramer referred to a proclaimed Russian coronavirus vaccine as “Chernobyl II” on Tuesday, with the “Mad Money” host adding that he would take “a hard pass” on taking it if offered.

“Are you gonna take a Russian vaccine?” asked “Squawk on the Street” host David Faber.

“Now we’re really talking about a tremendous leap of faith. A Russian vaccine, which I think they dubbed it ‘Chernobyl II,’ ” Cramer replied, referring to the 1986 accident at a nuclear plant Ukraine. “I’m gonna pass.”

“Is that a hard pass?” an amused Faber followed.

“It’s a hard pass,” Cramer said. “Hard-pass Chernobyl.”

“My favorite is that it’s been approved, even though it hasn’t passed trials,” Faber noted.

“Easy come, easy come,” Cramer quipped.

U.S. markets have responded positively to Tuesday’s vaccine news from Russia, regardless of questions around its reliability and possible side effects, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaking the 28,000 mark for the first time since before the pandemic began shutting down U.S. businesses and schools in March.

“A vaccine against coronavirus has been registered for the first time in the world this morning,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier on state TV. “I know that it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity.”

Putin also said that one of his adult daughters had taken the vaccine, which he said resulted in a slightly higher temperature following each dose.

“Now she feels well,” he added.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar later said that officials were prioritizing both the safety of a vaccine under development in the U.S. along with its effectiveness.

“The point is not to be first with a vaccine, the point is to have a vaccine that is safe and effective for the American people and the people of the world,” Azar said.