Mass vaccination against COVID-19 in Russia should start before the New Year, the Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov said.
"I cannot say the exact date. <...> The task is to ensure that these are the minimum stages and to provide as soon as possible for all comers. The task is grandiose. As now every state faces this task, so do we", - said the president's press secretary.
According to Peskov, vaccination against coronavirus will be voluntary and gradual, taking into account the "geography of the country" and peculiarities of storage of the drug.
Russia has registered two vaccines against COVID-19: first "Sputnik V", developed by specialists of the National Gamaleya Center with the support of the Russian Foundation for Research and Development on the basis of a well studied platform of the human adenovirus vector, and later "EpiVakKorona" from the center "Vector" at Rospotrebnadzor (based on peptide antigens).
Now the drugs are undergoing the third post-registration phase of testing on volunteers (including elderly and chronically ill patients). "Sputnik V showed 95% efficiency after the second interim analysis of the research data and is on the list of ten global vaccines that are closest to mass production.
The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, earlier reported that the institution had received applications from more than 20 countries for a billion doses of Sputnik V. Russia has agreed on production in five countries. More than 117 thousand doses have already been released, and by the end of the year they plan to produce more than two million.
For Russians vaccination as "EpiVakKorona" and "Sputnik V" will be free (they are not sold at retail).
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from RIA Novosti