The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Torlak Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Serums in Serbia have agreed on the production of the latest Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine at the facilities. This was announced on Thursday, March 25, by the press service of the fund.
It is expected that vaccine production will begin before May this year. Serbia will become the first state in Southern Europe to manufacture a Russian drug. As noted in the RDIF, in the future, it is possible to export the vaccine to other countries in the region.
The head of the foundation, Kirill Dmitriev, expressed gratitude to Serbia for its constant support and confidence in Sputnik V.
“Serbia was one of the first countries in the world to approve and use the Russian drug to vaccinate the population against coronavirus. The production of Sputnik V by the Torlak Institute will simplify logistics and accelerate the implementation of the vaccination program in Serbia, ”he said.
In turn, the Minister of Innovation and Technological Development, co-chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation between the Russian Federation and Serbia, Nenad Popovich, noted that the production of the Russian vaccine by the Torlak Institute will expand the republic’s capabilities to combat the spread of infection and open up prospects for the supply of the drug to other states of Southern Europe.
“The transfer of technology for the production of Sputnik V in Serbia will strengthen our sovereignty in the field of vaccine production. In the future, this area will be of great importance for every country, ”Popovich stressed.
On March 11, Popovic announced that production of Sputnik V at the Serbian Institute of Virology Torlak in Belgrade would begin before May 20.
According to the international statistical bureau Worldometer, as of March 25, more than 566 thousand cases of coronavirus infection were detected in Serbia, 5,039 people died, more than 477 thousand patients were cured.
The population of the republic is offered a choice between the American vaccine Pfizer, the Chinese Sinopharm, the British-Swedish AstraZeneca and the Russian drug “Sputnik V”. At the same time, in January, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Health of Serbia, Mirsad Jerlek, stated that the majority of the country’s citizens chose Sputnik V when applying for vaccination.
Sputnik V became the first coronavirus vaccine in the world and in Russia. The drug was developed by the specialists of the Gamaleya Center. It was registered on August 11, 2020.
According to information published by the medical journal The Lancet, according to the results of the third phase of clinical trials of this drug, its effectiveness was 91.6% after analyzing data from more than 19 thousand volunteers, in relation to severe cases of coronavirus – 100%.
Today Sputnik V is registered in 56 countries with a total population of over 1.5 billion people.
