BELGRADE, June 4. /TASS/. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has thanked Russia and President Vladimir Putin for the efforts made for launching the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine’s production in Serbia.

In his address to the nation on Friday, Vucic said: "Today at 5.30 p.m. Sputnik V vaccine’s production will kick off in Serbia. This ceremony will be attended by President [Vladimir] Putin online and me, and together with the leadership of the Torlak Institute [of Virology] we will launch production and already in a few days we will have vaccines, which we will be able to offer both to our citizens and the citizens of the region, Europe and the world. I’m proud that we have managed to do this job. I thank Russia and President Putin for the efforts, and we will continue these efforts in the future," Vucic said.

Vucic noted that soon Serbia would launch construction of a plant on producing vaccines jointly with Chinese partners.

On May 19, Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology confirmed the quality of the Sputnik V vaccine produced by Belgrade’s Torlak Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera during a trial and approved the production of the Russian medication by the Serbian institute.

On February 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic discussed the production of Sputnik V in Serbia. After the phone call, Vucic said that with the assistance of Russian specialists, Serbia would build the necessary facilities and would be producing the jab independently.

The Serbian people can currently choose between Pfizer, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines. According to Serbian Ambassador to Russia Miroslav Lazanski, about 85% of people in Serbia pointed out in the vaccination applications that they would like to get Sputnik V shots.