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Coronavirus pandemic

Russian сosmonauts begin vaccination against COVID-19

Their condition will be monitored by doctors

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russian сosmonauts and employees of the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center have begun vaccination against COVID-19, the statement published by Roscosmos on Friday informs.

"Roscosmos cosmonauts and employees of the Cosmonaut Training Center joined the mass vaccination effort that began on December 15, 2020," the state corporation informed.

The statement informs that сosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Nikolay Chub got the first vaccine shot. They will receive the second shot in three weeks, the message says.

All сosmonauts and employees of the center that were vaccinated had undergone a medical examination beforehand. Their condition will be monitored by doctors.

In early December, the Russian Federal Medical-Biological Agency informed TASS that a unit of сosmonauts and a number of Cosmonaut Training Center employees who come in direct contact with them during training would be vaccinated against COVID-19. The сosmonauts and the employees of the center will receive the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.

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 began in Moscow on September 7, with first volunteers getting the first vaccine shot on September. Overall, the trials include 40,000 people, 10,000 of them had received a placebo dose instead of the vaccine.

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