The first batch of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V has been produced at the Jurabek laboratories plant in Almalyk city of Tashkent region of Uzbekistan, the head of Uzbekistan's sanitary-epidemiological welfare and public health service Bakhodir Yusupaliyev said on Friday.
"The first batch, bottling of the Sputnik V vaccine, has already been produced. It was sent to the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia in order to perform quality control of the vaccine. This is a necessary procedure that is done everywhere and now we are waiting for the results of testing, after which full-scale production in our country will be possible", said Yusupaliev in a live broadcast on TV channel Uzbekistan-24.
He also said that at the first stage the vaccine will be produced from Russian raw materials and later the full cycle of production from local ingredients will be established and the construction of a new laboratory has already begun.
Mass vaccination of the population in Uzbekistan began in April. The Russian vaccine Sputnik V, as well as a drug made in India under license from the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and a vaccine from the Chinese company Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical are used for this purpose. According to the latest data, about 1.5 million people in the republic with a population of about 35 million have been fully vaccinated and the first component of one of three vaccines was given to almost 5 million residents of Uzbekistan.
On Friday, 3 million 60 thousand doses of vaccine from Moderna were also delivered to Uzbekistan, which were allocated to Uzbekistan for free as part of the international program COVAX. The drug is one of three used in the United States and one of six vaccines approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use. The vaccination course consists of two doses given 28 days apart. This preparation can be stored in a regular refrigerator.
Today 897 people have been infected with coronavirus in the republic, which is the highest figure since the beginning of the year. A total of 128,403 cases of infection with coronavirus have been detected in Uzbekistan, 122,368 (95%) patients have recovered and 866 have died.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: EPA / ANATOLY MALTSEV / TASS
Based on materials from TASS