MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. More than 150,000 people in Russia have been inoculated with the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine by now, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg said on Thursday.

"More than 150,000 residents have received this preparation nationwide as part of civil circulation. This is the largest number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 than in any other country in the world using a similar preparation," he told the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

Sputnik V registered by Russia on August 11 became the world’s first coronavirus vaccine. Its post-registration trials began in Moscow on September 7, with volunteers receiving the first vaccine on September 9. A total of 40,000 people are involved in the program, 10,000 of them received a placebo instead of the vaccine.