Russia has submitted an application to the World Health Organization to prequalify its first vaccine against the novel coronavirus, Sputnik V, the Russian sovereign wealth fund announced on Tuesday.
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Involved in the development of this vaccine, the sovereign wealth fund said in a press release that it had submitted a request “for accelerated registration and prequalification” of Sputnik V to the WHO.
Russia “is one of the first countries in the world to ask the WHO for the prequalification of its vaccine against the new coronavirus,” the authorities say.
“In the context of the pandemic, the accelerated registration of the vaccine according to the (WHO) procedure will make the Russian vaccine accessible to all within a shorter time frame compared to conventional procedures,” the statement added.
“A successful preselection will allow the Sputnik V vaccine to be included in the list of drugs used by (…) countries for bulk purchases of drugs,” he said.
Russia announced in early August that it had developed and registered the “first” vaccine against COVID-19 developed by the Moscow research center Gamaleïa with the Russian Defense Ministry. In Russia, registration by the authorities is the preliminary step to the final phase of clinical trials.
Called Sputnik V, in reference to the first artificial satellite in history designed by the Soviet Union, it was viewed with skepticism in the world, in particular because it had not reached the final phase of the tests at the time of l ‘ad.
A large part of the Russian political elite has nevertheless said that they have been vaccinated, Vladimir Putin citing the example of one of his daughters. And the government hopes to deploy it massively in the country in the coming months.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had registered its second vaccine against the coronavirus.
Russia has seen a major resurgence of the epidemic in recent weeks. The country is in fourth place in the world in terms of the number of recorded cases, with a total of 1,547,774 infections and 26,589 deaths.