MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. The key task of the Russian consumer watchdog and other agencies is to prevent any coronavirus vaccine "dissent," head of the consumer watchdog Anna Popova said Tuesday.
"The information campaign is extremely important right now, <…> [it is vital] to stymie COVID dissent and prevent coronavirus vaccine dissent. Because the vaccine is what will undeniably give us much more confidence in the epidemiological situation, in forecasting it and blocking it from developing further," she said.
According to Popova, it is currently essential "to get information across, get across the need to take care of oneself and sense of responsibility and to avoid fines." She underlined that good results in "the fight against coronavirus can only be achieved if scientists unite and [use a] comprehensive approach to address this task."
On August 11, Russia became the first country in the world to register a coronavirus vaccine named Sputnik V, which was 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. According to Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia received preliminary applications to supply more than one billion doses of the Russian breakthrough vaccine from 20 countries. He noted that Latin American, Middle Eastern and Asian countries are most interested to buy it, while a number of contracts has already been finalized.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the world. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
To date, 1,326,178 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,031,785 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 22,966 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.