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Coronavirus pandemic

Updated at:

Up to 25% of industrial complex workers in Russia vaccinated against COVID-19 — minister

The Russian Trade and Industry Ministry supports a required vaccination against the novel coronavirus among workers of the national industry complex, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/. The Russian Trade and Industry Ministry supports a required vaccination against the novel coronavirus among workers of the national industry complex and almost 25% of them already received anti-COVID-19 jabs, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told TASS on Monday.

Asked by a TASS correspondent whether he was backing an initiative of a mandatory vaccination against the novel coronavirus, Manturov replied: "Definitely, yes."

"This is because it is in the interests of the work efficiency of the industrial spheres, which we are responsible for as the ministry," he said.

"The State Industry Information System [SIIS] is now monitoring a situation regarding the process of the [anti-COVID-19] vaccination process at industrial enterprises and we have now information regarding some of the enterprises in 22 industrial sectors," Manturov continued.

"According to our data, eight percent of the overall staff already recovered from the virus, almost 25% were vaccinated and 16% are willing to get vaccinated. It turns out that over 30% of the staff [in the national industrial complex] is already safeguarded," the minister said adding that only 2.5% showed medical contradictions to the vaccination.

"I believe that considering the current dynamics the rate [of the vaccinated people] may soon surpass the figure of 50%," the minister said. "It may provide guarantees that the [industrial] enterprises will not be idling due to its employees’ sick leaves."

"The priority task for employers is to inform and motivate their employees to get vaccinated, but certainly within the legal frames," Manturov added.

To date, four anti-coronavirus vaccines have been registered in Russia: Sputnik V and Sputnik Light from the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, EpiVacCorona by the Vector State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology, and CoviVac vaccine by the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center. Vaccines Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, and CoviVac are two-component, Sputnik Light is a one-component vaccine.

The second component of Sputnik V is administered after 21 days, EpiVacCorona is injected with an interval of no less than 14-21 days, while CoviVac is introduced with an interval of 14 days.

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has been approved for use in 67 countries totaling over 3.5 billion people. More than 30 nations have already launched mass vaccination campaigns using Sputnik V. The Russian vaccine boasts a 91.6% efficiency rate, which is confirmed by the data published in the Lancet medical journal.

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