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Coronavirus pandemic

Azerbaijan launches vaccination with Russia’s Sputnik V

At this stage vaccination with this jab will be carried out at the Baku health center

BAKU, May 18. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s citizens will be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with Russia’s Sputnik V jab starting on Tuesday, the Health Ministry stated.

The first batch of this vaccine reached Azerbaijan on May 2. According to the ministry, all citizens of the country above 18, who don’t have any contraindications, can receive Sputnik V. At this stage vaccination with this jab will be carried out at the Baku health center.

In March, Azerbaijan’s authorities allowed the use of Russia’s Sputnik V for vaccination. The delivery of another batch of the vaccine is expected by the end of this month.

Vaccination in Azerbaijan kicked off on January 18 and is voluntary and free of charge. So far, two vaccines were used in the country for vaccination - CoronaVac by China’s Sinovac Biotech and Vaxzevria by British-Swedish AstraZeneca. The latest jab is only used for inoculating people above 60 years of age and older. Baku signed a contract on purchasing a total of 9 mln doses of CoronaVac and bought 434,000 doses of Vaxzevria in the framework of the COVAX initiative.

Nearly 1.8 mln people have been vaccinated in Azerbaijan or some 18% of citizens, according to the crisis center. Since the start of pandemic in the republic 330,269 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, 315,415 people have recovered and 4,792 patients have died.

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