COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Russia Starts Public Distribution of Sputnik V
Moscow, September 24: Russia has started distributing COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V to the public. According to local Russian media, Sputnik V has entered "civil circulation" in Moscow. The development came days after the Russian health ministry announced to produce COVID-19 vaccine for public distribution at the earliest. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Phase 3 Trials of Russia's Sputnik V to Begin in India in Next Few Weeks.
"The first batch of the vaccine for preventing the novel coronavirus infection, Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry passed the required quality tests in the laboratories of Roszdravnadzor (the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare) and was produced for civilian circulation," reported India Today quoting the Russian health ministry as saying. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: 'Sputnik V' to be Tested in India, Says Russian Media; Country to Produce 30 Crore Doses Locally, Claims Top Official.
Recently, Russia's Health Minister Mikhail Murashko had said that the vaccine would be first given to citizens from the risk groups, including teachers and doctors. Recently, reports also surfaced that more than 60,000 people applied to volunteer for the coronavirus vaccine trials in Moscow and over 700 people were injected with the coronavirus vaccine.
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On August 15, the Russian Health Ministry announced the launch of the vaccine production. The Sputnik V vaccine, named after the iconic Soviet-era space satellite, was launched by Russia on August 1. It was branded as the "world's first vaccine against coronavirus".
