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Coronavirus pandemic

Vaccination against COVID in Russia will be voluntary

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. Vaccination against coronavirus in Russia will take place voluntarily, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Tuesday adding that "no one will force anyone."

"The opportunity to be vaccinated against coronavirus should be in every region of our country and for every person," the Prime Minister said at a meeting with manufacturers of vaccines against coronavirus infection.

"Of course, people will be able to vaccinate at will, no one will force anyone to do it," Mishustin stressed.

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Russia’s EpiVacCorona vaccine delivered to 9 medical centers for post-registration trials

The Prime Minister stated that the situation with the coronavirus in the country "remains difficult." "The sooner people receive high-quality and effective vaccines, the faster the situation will improve," he said.

According to Mishustin, "other countries are also showing interest in the Russian vaccine."

"The priority task at the first stage, of course, is to provide our citizens, Russians, with vaccines," the Prime Minister stressed.

Mishustin recalled that by now the vaccines developed by the Gamaleya Research Center and the Vector Scientific Center have been registered. The Sputnik V vaccine by the Gamalea center is produced at several sites, the list of which will expand, he noted.

Earlier on Tuesday it became known that the second interim analysis of clinical trial data showed over 95% efficacy for the Sputnik V vaccine 42 days after administering the first dose and 7 days after the second dose.

On August 11, Russia registered the world’s first vaccine against the novel coronavirus. The vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry, and its clinical trials were successfully completed in June-July. The third, post-registration, stage of clinical tests began on August 25. The vaccine was developed on a platform that had been used for a number of other vaccines. According to the Russian health ministry, these vaccines have proved their ability to form lasting immunity for a period of up to two years. The first batch of the vaccine was dispatched to Russian regions on September 12.

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