COVID-19 pandemic: Russia again offers supply of Sputnik-V vaccine to Pakistan

(Karachi) In a major development, Russia has again offered Pakistan supply of its Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine, local media reported on Tuesday.

As per details, the Russian Direct Investment Fund’s (RDIF) head Kirill Dmitriev has written a letter to Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan through the country’s embassy in Islamabad seeking details of the vaccine's registration process.

In the letter, Dmitriev expressed keen interest in registration of the Russian vaccine in Pakistan and sought details regarding the process thereof and the country’s demand for supply of the first batch of jabs.

The letter stated that the locally-produced Sputnik-V is the first registered Covid-19 vaccine in the world and has emergency-use approval.

Vaccine developed by Russia proved to be 92 percent effective in preventing coronavirus, the interim results showed. Russia registered Sputnik V for public use in August, the first country to do so, though the approval came before the start of the large-scale trial in September.

The Phase III trial of the shot developed by the Gamaleya Institute took place in 29 clinics across Moscow and involved 40,000 volunteers in total. The chances of contracting COVID-19 were 92% lower among people vaccinated with Sputnik V, the Russian Direct Investment Fund stated.