‘Mass COVID-19 vaccination in Russia to begin in about month’

Moscow: Mass vaccination against the coronavirus in Russia will begin in about a month after the required amount of vaccine is produced, Alexander Gintsburg, the director of the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, told Sputnik on Sunday.

“Mass vaccination will be with some delay, only due to the fact that the main part of the produced vaccine will subject to post-registration studies. After that, the rest of the products will be for civilian sales. There will be a delay of 2-3 weeks, maybe a month,” Gintsburg said.

The scientist also said that post-registration studies of the vaccine would take from four to six months.

Earlier this week, Russia registered the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, named Sputnik V and developed by the Gamaleya Institute. The Russian Ministry of Health has said that Sputnik V had undergone all necessary checks and proven to be capable of building immunity against the virus. (UNI)