MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. Most countries express interest in the Russian coronavirus vaccine dubbed Sputnik V despite the current information war waged against it, Kirill Dmitriev, director general of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), told reporters Thursday.
"We can see that a number of countries are waging an information war against the Russian vaccine. Nevertheless, most countries want to learn facts about the Russian vaccine and, correspondingly, understand how it works and what information there is," he said.
Dmitriev also urged against politicizing the situation surrounding the vaccine "because there should be a lot of vaccine - the more the better for the humanity."
"We see increasing interest from many countries in getting to know the technology. As various countries understand the way the Russian vaccine works, the bigger interest it will attract," he added.
Earlier, the RDIF and Gamaleya Research Center, the vaccine developer, created a resource to disseminate current information about Sputnik V "to fight the campaign of disinformation launched in a number of international media outlets." Dmitriev also claimed that the world is seeing "coordinated and thoroughly prepared information attacks on the Russian vaccine." Meanwhile, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko slammed foreign criticism of the Russian breakthrough as groundless, linking it to the fact that foreign specialists understand "competitive advantages of the Russian vaccine."
On August 11, Russia became the first country in the world to register a coronavirus vaccine named Sputnik V and developed by Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian health ministry. The injection passed clinical trials in June-July. The vaccine is based on an already known platform that was used to create a number of other injections. On August 15, the national health ministry said that the vaccine production had begun.