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Countries line up to cooperate with Russia on COVID-19 vaccine, diplomat says

The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed that the effectiveness of the Russian vaccine is an established fact

MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Countries around the world are lining up to cooperate with Moscow on the COVID-19 vaccine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday on Russia’s Channel One.

The diplomat stressed that the effectiveness of the Russian vaccine is a fact that everyone is talking about. "A line has formed, and I’m not just paying lip service, you know: countries all around the world on all continents are lining up with requests for cooperation regarding the vaccine," she said.

Zakharova pointed out that the West is uncomfortable over the fact that after being the first in the world to develop the vaccine, Russia "did not hide it from the international community, did not begin talking about its dominance in global affairs," instead offering wide international cooperation on this matter, up to the production of the vaccine.

Besides, the spokesman recalled that the pandemic had exposed a lack of solidarity between the EU and NATO in the fight against the infection, citing what happened in Italy in the spring of 2020 as an example.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 106.5 mln people have been diagnosed with the disease, and over 2.3 mln have died. Russia registered the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world on August 11, 2020, dubbed "Sputnik V." The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Federal Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.