More than 40 countries show interest in Sputnik V vaccine

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. More than 40 countries have shown interest in the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said during a special session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. "More than 40 countries, representing more than 50% of the world's population, have expressed interest in the Sputnik V vaccine," he said. Dmitriev added that the fund has received orders for more than 1.2 billion doses of the vaccine. "We will work on their production, in particular through partnerships with India, China and Brazil, Korea, Argentina and other countries producing the vaccine," Dmitriev said. Russia registered the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world under the name of Sputnik V on August 11. The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. Post-registration testing of the vaccine begun in Moscow on September 7, with first volunteers getting the first vaccine shot on September 9. Preliminary results of the trials suggest that the effectiveness of the vaccine surpasses 95% on the 42nd day after vaccination, provided that the patient received the second dose. Besides Russia, clinical trials are also taking place in Belarus, Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates. Read more