Spahn made the remarks in a radio interview with the broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
“It is not about being first, it is about having an effective, a tried and with that a safe vaccine,” Spahn said.
"To have trust in such vaccine I believe it is important to do the necessary testing even in times of pandemic and to make everything public.”
Spahn criticized what he called Russian authorities’ lack of transparency.
“The problem is that we know very little because the Russian authorities are not being transparent. We know that as of now that there has been no Phase 3 testing, so no clinical trials with a broad spectrum of people. And with that it can also be dangerous to start too early.”
Russia approved the vaccine before Phase 3 trials began Wednesday.
Moscow has released no data from the Phase 1 and 2 trials and CNN is unable to verify the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.