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Coronavirus pandemic

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Belarus certifies Russian Sputnik Light vaccine

Based on the decision of the committee on pharmaceuticals of the Health Ministry, on June 3, the decision was made on state registration of the Sputnik Light vaccine

© Alexander Ryumin/TASS

MINSK, June 3. /TASS/. The Russian Sputnik Light vaccine was certified in Belarus on Thursday, the press service of the republic’s Health Ministry reported.

"Based on the decision of the committee on pharmaceuticals of the Health Ministry, on June 3, the decision was made on state registration of the Sputnik Light vaccine," the statement posted on the agency’s Telegram channel said.

The agency noted that according to the Health Ministry’s decree, the experts of the Center for Examinations and Tests in Health Service, the republic’s leading infectious diseases specialists and staff of the republic’s scientific and research centers conducted an evaluation of the materials of the certification dossier. "The documents presented in the dossier materials include sufficient information allowing to evaluate the indicators of safety, efficacy and quality of the preparation," the Health Ministry emphasized.

The agency explained that Sputnik Light is a single-dose vaccine which creates specific cellular and humoral immunity to the SARS CoV-2 virus, generating a sufficient immune response on Day 28 after the administration. At the same time, the most pronounced immune response, and, accordingly, the efficacy of using this vaccine, will be observed in individuals with existing immunity to COVID-19, in particular, those who have antibodies after the infection, including its asymptomatic form.

"It is particularly important that the use of this vaccine will allow an increase to the volume of inoculation and responds to the high societal demand for the immune protection against COVID-19," the statement said.

On October 1, 2020, Belarus started administering the Russian Sputnik V jab to volunteers within the framework of post-registration trials. The republic became the first country following Russia to officially certify this vaccine. A joint production of Sputnik V has been established in Belarus which is now used to immunize the population. On May 18, Belarus received the second batch of 300,000 doses of China’s Vero Cell vaccine. Earlier, Belarusian Health Minister Dmitry Pinevich stated that lines for inoculation will decrease as more batches of the vaccines arrive.

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