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Coronavirus pandemic

Palestine negotiating possible production of Russian Sputnik V vaccine - newspaper

According to Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal, a permit from the Israeli health ministry is needed to import the Russian vaccine to Palestine

© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Palestine is negotiating with Russia possible production of the Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine at its medical establishments, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal said in an interview with the Izvestia daily that came out on Thursday.

"We know about the Russian vaccine and are following its trials. We are waiting for the launch of the vaccination campaign in Russia. Now we are in talks with Moscow on purchases of the vaccine. We are also negotiating possible production of the Russian vaccine at our medical establishments after we receive it," he said.

According to the diplomat, a permit from the Israeli health ministry is needed to import the Russian vaccine to Palestine. "As far as I know, they (the Israeli authorities - TASS) are not planning to develop a vaccine of their own in the mid-term perspective. They plan to buy preparations from the United States, from Russia. We will keep an eye on the situation," he added.

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 Russian health ministry said on August 15 that production of the vaccine had been launched. 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.

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