Kyrgyzstan intends to buy a batch of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Russia, enough to vaccinate 118,000 people. This was announced on Tuesday at a briefing in Bishkek by Ulukbek Bekturganov, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development of the republic.
"It is planned to buy in Russia vaccines against coronavirus Sputnik V, with which 118 thousand people can be vaccinated," he said. According to the Deputy Minister, the parties are currently preparing a package of necessary documents.
Sputnik V was officially registered in Kyrgyzstan in February. Production of the drug on the territory of the republic is being considered. As the head of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health Alymkadyr Beishenaliev said on Monday, 215 million soms (about $2.5 million) were allocated from the budget for the purchase of Sputnik V.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in Kyrgyzstan 89 thousand infected with coronavirus were identified, 1.5 thousand of whom died and 85.3 thousand of whom recovered. On March 19, the first 150,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm had arrived in the country and vaccination began on March 29. The republic also expects to receive another 2.6 million doses of vaccines under the international COVAX mechanism. Earlier, the Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca had agreed to supply the drug.
Kyrgyzstan, home to nearly 6.5 million people, has seen two outbreaks of the coronavirus disease during the year. The first was late last June, when health officials recorded 900 to 1,600 cases a day. The second was late last year, when the number of new infections was about 300 a day. The country is still in a state of emergency declared in March 2020. According to the latest data, only 644 people in the country were vaccinated against coronavirus in eight days.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Andrey Luzik / TASS
Based on materials from TASS