Tunisia is in contact with Russia to obtain a batch of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Health Minister Faouzi Mehdi announced.
"We are in contact with different laboratories. Today I held a video meeting with the Russian embassy to clarify the technical details so that, may God willing, we will receive some amount of Sputnik V vaccines soon - at the end of January," the minister announced at a press conference.
The minister said that on Monday the Tunisian authorities issued a permit to sell the Pfizer vaccine in the country.
According to the minister, vaccination in the country will not begin until February and will be voluntary.
Earlier Mehdi announced that Tunisian authorities were imposing a quarantine from January 14 to 17 due to the difficult epidemiological situation in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health of Tunisia, more than 162 thousand cases of the coronavirus infection have been detected in the country, more than 119 thousand people have recovered and 5,284 patients with COVID-19 died.
In August, the Russian Ministry of Health registered the world's first vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 developed by Gamaleya Research Center. It was named Sputnik V. The vaccine is based on a studied and proven platform of human adenovirus vectors, the important advantages of which are safety, efficacy and absence of long-term adverse effects.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Mikhail Japaridze / TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti