MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. Tunisia has asked Russia for additional supplies of the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus to the republic, Director of the National Observatory of New and Emerging Diseases Nissaf Ben Alaya reported at an online conference on the Russian-Tunisian interaction on Wednesday.

"Tunisia, like other countries, increases the number of vaccinations. <...> We made a request to send us an additional amount of this [Russian] vaccine. Our goal is to inoculate as many citizens as possible," she said.

According to her, Tunisia managed to overcome the distrust of many people to inoculation and the Sputnik V vaccine is well received by the population. "We have a lot of those wishing to get inoculated," the official stressed.

"We are also ready to participate in the production of vaccines. I would like that this issue is also researched, so that, perhaps, we can establish a center on creating laboratories for producing vaccines," she pointed out. "We would like to participate and be your partners in the vaccine production. Our current visit is directed at the development of cooperation in this sphere."

The official added that Tunisia proposes to assemble an international forum together with Russia which would evaluate the fight against the coronavirus now and in the future.

In his turn, Tunisian Tourism Minister Habib Ammar who heads the Tunisian delegation to Moscow, thanked the Russian side for providing the Sputnik V vaccine to the republic. "The first time we vaccinated approximately one thousand people. We inoculated practically all workers of the medical sector. And this act from the outside found the most positive response in Tunisia," the minister emphasized. "The goal of our visit was to facilitate the delivery of the remaining part of the vaccine.".