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Coronavirus pandemic

Russia has unprecedently high COVID-19 vaccine quality control, minister says

Russia launched its mass adult vaccination campaign on January 18

© Alexander Ryumin/TASS

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. The quality control of coronavirus vaccines in Russia is unprecedently high with each dose passing through a multi-tier check system, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Tuesday.

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"The vaccine is so popular today and everything points to its safety and efficacy because the volume of data collected and the control over it is unprecedented. In the past years, we created a system of particularly introducing vaccines into civil circulation with serial number control, therefore, each dose produced today goes through very strict multi-tier control, including laboratories that have the quality control accreditation of the World Health Organization as well as some foreign countries. Therefore, the vaccine quality control today is unprecedented," Murashko said.

Russia launched its mass adult vaccination campaign on January 18. Russians can choose between two authorized jabs, Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona.

According to the latest statistics, more than 119.9 million people have been infected worldwide and more than 2,600,000 deaths have been reported. To date, 4,400,045 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 4,003,576 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 92,494 fatalities nationwide. The Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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