MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. The production of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine has been launched in Serbia, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a press release.

"The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) and Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera "Torlak" announce the launch of production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in Serbia," RDIF said.

The vaccine could be exported to other countries of the region at a later stage. Vaccination against coronavirus with the Russian vaccine started in Serbia on January 6, 2021, RDIF said.

According to the press release, Serbia has become the first country in Southern Europe to produce Sputnik V. Production of Sputnik V in Serbia meets the best vaccine manufacturing standards.

To date Sputnik V has been registered in 60 countries globally with total population of 3 billion people. Efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6% as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals. The vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots, RDIF said.