All news

Vaccination with Russian Sputnik V begins in Moldova, health ministry reports

Moscow has sent 182,000 doses of its vaccine to Moldova as humanitarian aid, of which 60,000 are meant for unrecognized Transnistria, where over 200,000 Russian nationals live

CHISINAU, May 4./TASS/. The vaccination campaign against coronavirus with Russia’s Sputnik V has kicked off in Moldova, the press service of the country’s Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday.

"The Sputnik V vaccine has already been distributed among vaccination centers, where vaccination began on May 4," said a message on the ministry’s website. Medical staff, elderly people, officers of law enforcement agencies will be the first to get the jab, it specified.

Russia has sent 182,000 doses of its vaccine to Moldova as humanitarian aid, of which 60,000 are meant for unrecognized Transnistria, where over 200,000 Russian nationals live. The first batch of 142,000 doses arrived in Moldova at the end of April, and another 40,000 are expected in May, Moldovan Parliament Speaker Zinaida Greceanii said earlier. Former President Igor Dodon, leader of the Party of Socialists, brought the first batch of the Russian vaccine to the country and says Moldova is ready to buy another 70,000 doses of the vaccine.

For now, Moldova has received about 600,000 doses of the vaccine, allocated via the COVAX mechanism by the governments of Russia, Romania and China. These are the Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sinopharm vaccines.

Vaccination began in Moldova on March 2, with already almost 150,000 people (about 4% of the population) having been vaccinated so far. According to the latest updates, 251,000 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Moldova (over 7% of the population), and 5,600 fatalities are reported overall.