BELGRADE, February 21. /TASS/. Montenegro has launched anti-coronavirus vaccination in the country using Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, the press office of the Public Health Institute of Montenegro reported on late Saturday adding that first jabs of the vaccine were delivered at care houses for elderly.

"The team of our Institute and Kotor hospital has delivered the first shot of the vaccine in Montenegro," the press service said in a statement.

According to the statement, the first patient to be inoculated with Sputnik V vaccine was a 66-year-old resident of an elderly house in the Montenegrin town of Risan. The patient called on the rest of people in the country to follow his example and advised against being afraid of the vaccination.

Two people from the medical center’s personnel were also vaccinated and one of them later said that up to 79 patients and staff members were expected to receive anti-COVID jabs in one day.

On February 17, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic brought the first batch of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to Montenegro. The Serbian prime minister was greeted at Podgorica Airport personally by her Montenegrin counterpart Zdravko Krivokapic and members of his cabinet.

On Tuesday, Montenegrin Health Minister Jelena Borovinic Bojovic announced that the first batch of the Sputnik V vaccine would arrive in Montenegro from Serbia. She also said that another batch of the Sputnik V vaccine directly from Russia was expected in the near future. Additionally, the Montenegrin Health Ministry expected deliveries of anti-coronavirus vaccines by Sinopharm and Pfizer.

Montenegro’s Institute for Public Health reported on February 16 that seven cases of the infection with the British strain of the coronavirus were detected in the country. Prior to that day, the country’s authorities introduced a curfew and restrictions on intercity transportation due to a sharp aggravation of the epidemiologic situation.

The country with the population of 600,000 has reported over 71,500 of positive COVID-19 cases, including 939 fatalities.

On August 11, 2020, Russia became the first worldwide to register a vaccine against the coronavirus dubbed Sputnik V. The inoculation was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry.

Sputnik V is a human adenovirus-based vector vaccine. Recently, the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals, published interim results of a phase 3 trial of Sputnik V, confirming that the vaccine candidate "appears safe and effective.".