MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. The first batches of Sputnik Light vaccine will start entering civilian circulation after June 25, Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko said on Monday.
"The Sputnik Light vaccine, which can be conveniently used for revaccination, is currently in production and quality control. I think that within next week we will bring it to the market. It will go through medical organizations, and it will be available for vaccination points. Now, after the 25th (of June - TASS), the first batches will begin to appear in civilian circulation," he said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.
Sputnik Light is the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine. The effectiveness of the vaccine is almost 80% starting from the 28th day after vaccination.
Earlier on Monday, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported that Russia has documented 17,378 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. At the same time, the number of coronavirus cases in Moscow rose by 7,584 compared to 8,305 the day before, taking the total to 1,294,154.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.