MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. The first batch of the Russian anti-coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V will be laboratory-produced in Belarus this year, Belarus’ acting Health Minister Dmitry Pinevich said on Sunday.

"The first [batches of the vaccine] will be manufactured this year. Say, Russia started from laboratory production. So, the first batch will be manufactured in laboratory conditions this year, I am sure," he said in an interview with the Belarus-1 television channel when asked when the vaccine production in Belarus will be launched.

 

Mass production, in his words, will kick off in 2021. "Vaccinations will begin extremely quickly," he noted. "I would like to stress: resources have already been booked and the vaccine will be manufactured in any event."

Belarus is the first foreign country to begin clinical tests of the Sputnik V vaccine after its registration in Russia. Trials will be conducted in eight Belarusian medical establishments.

In a telephone conversation with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on November 4, Russian leader Vladimir Putin supported his Belarusian counterpart’s initiative to organize production of the Russian anti-coronavirus vaccine in his country.

On August 11, Russia registered the world’s first vaccine against the novel coronavirus. The vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry, and its clinical trials were successfully completed in June-July. The third, post-registration, stage of clinical tests began on August 25. The vaccine was developed on a platform that had been used for a number of other vaccines.