BELGRADE/MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. A pilot batch of the Russian Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine will be supplied to Serbia by the end of the current week, the press service of the Serbian government said on Monday after Prime Minister Ana Brnabic’s online talks with Russian Minister of Industry Denis Manturov.
"Today Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic spoke in the videoconference mode with Russian Minister of Industry Denis Manturov who told her about the progress in the production of the Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine. Manturov confirmed that a batch of 20 vaccine doses will be supplied to Serbia for laboratory control by the end of the current week," it said.
"Branbic said that the Serbian government and president are working to ensure the access to the vaccine for people in Serbia the soonest possible. She stressed that goal is to guarantee that people could choose a vaccine in line with the recommendations of Serbian medical institutions," the press service noted. "The prime minister added that Serbia is interested in looking at possible joint production of the anti-COVID vaccine."
Meanwhile, the Russian ministry of industry said that Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, senior officials from the Russian health ministry, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology and senior Serbian government officials took part in the talks.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on August 11 he was ready to be the first to test the Russian anti-coronavirus vaccine "when Serbian specialists say it is good." On November 12, he said his country had agreed on the purchase of 1.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and was negotiating possible purchase of vaccines from China and Russia.
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 Russian health ministry said on August 15 that production of the vaccine had been launched. The third, post-registration, stage of clinical tests began in Moscow on September 7. Volunteers were inoculated with the first dose of the vaccine on September. As many as 40,000 people are involved in the trials, with 10,000 of them being inoculated with a placebo.
According to the interim test results, the vaccine’s efficiency exceeds 95% on the 42nd day after inoculation with the first dose in case the patient received the second dose as well.
Orders for more than 1.2 billion doses of the Sputnik V vaccine have come from more than 50 countries. International partners of the Russian Direct Investment Fund in India, Brazil, China, South Korea and other countries will manufacture the vaccine for exports.