Iraq expects the first delivery of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V in the coming months, at this stage it is necessary to determine the possible volume of delivery and logistics, the country's Health Minister Hassan Tamimi told RIA Novosti.
"As you know, today there is a great international demand and limited capacity to produce this vaccine, so we contacted the Russian side, and our oil minister was authorized to negotiate during his visit to Moscow. Now Mr. Iraqi Ambassador (to Russia - ed.) Abdel Rahman al-Husseini is leading this issue. What remains to be determined is the quantity that can be shipped to Iraq in the coming months and the logistics of sending it (the vaccine - ed.) and receiving it in Iraq," Tamimi said.
According to the Minister, Iraq has already completed "all the paperwork".
On March 25, the Iraqi Ministry of Health announced that it had signed contracts to supply the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, as well as Sinopharm and Pfizer drugs.
Iraq registered the Sputnik V vaccine in March. Earlier in December, the country's authorities approved a Pfizer product for the emergency vaccination of the population. In January, the Ministry of Health approved the use of a Chinese product by Sinopharm CNBG and a British vaccine by AstraZeneca.
A vaccination campaign began in Iraq on March 2, using the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.
The Russian Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Center has been registered in about 60 countries with a total population of more than 1.5 billion people. It ranks second in the world by the number of approvals obtained by state regulators.
The vaccine's 91.6 percent effectiveness has been confirmed by publication in The Lancet, a leading medical journal. Sputnik V is based on a proven and well-studied human adenoviral vector platform. The drug uses two different vectors for two shots in the vaccination process, which forms more persistent immunity compared to vaccines that use the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: sputnikvaccine.com
Based on materials from RIA Novosti