MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. Clinical trials of the combination between Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine with the jab created by British-Swedish AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company to be launched in Azerbaijan and the UAE next week and later in Saudi Arabia, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev told the BBC Tuesday.

"What we want to test is if you can combine the AstraZeneca shot with the Sputnik [V] shot. We believe it can produce very good efficacy and can also be very good in fighting against the new mutations. So, the clinical trials of this are supposed to start as early as next week in Azerbaijan, the UAE and maybe a little later in Saudi Arabia," the RDIF CEO stressed.

Great example of partnership. "The vaccines have been outside of politics and focused on saving lives," he added.

On December 1, 2020, the RDIF, the Gamaleya Center (Sputnik V developer), AstraZeneca and Russia’s R-Pharm company signed an agreement on developing and launching a program of clinical trials for the combination between the shots.

The RDIF data shows that 16 countries around the world officially registered Sputnik V: Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Argentina, Bolivia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, the UAE, Iran, Guinea, Tunisia and Armenia. The Sputnik V registration process is also underway in the European Union and the World Health Organization (WHO).