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Coronavirus pandemic

Bound to be successful: Putin upbeat on Russia’s effort with AstraZeneca on COVID vaccine

Putin recalled the use of the Russian polio vaccine in Japan when, many years ago, that country’s authorities questioned the advisability and efficacy of the drug

© Yelena Afonina/TASS

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed optimism that cooperation between Russian manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines and AstraZeneca will be successful.

"Today, all of us are talking within the G20 and the UN about the need to pool efforts, and everyone is corroborating that this process will certainly be productive and highly sought after," he said on Monday at a videoconference on the occasion of the signing of a memorandum of intent between the Gamaleya Research Center, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, R-Pharm and AstraZeneca on COVID-19 prevention.

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"You have moved from words to action, from appeals to the implementation of the tasks that are facing the whole world and all of humanity today. I congratulate you, and hope that your cooperation will be successful and wish you good luck," he noted.

Putin recalled the use of the Russian polio vaccine in Japan when, many years ago, that country’s authorities questioned the advisability and efficacy of the drug. "But Japan’s citizens corrected their leadership back then, and it [the vaccine] was effectively used in many countries yielding very good results," the Russian leader said.

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