Russian, Belarusian Prime Ministers Discuss Plans For Sputnik V COVID-19 Vaccine Production

MINSK (Sputnik) - Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and his Belarusian counterpart, Roman Golovchenko, have discussed the ongoing clinical trials of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the Belarusian government press service informed in a statement.

"In the evening of 5 November 2020, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko held a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin. The parties discussed topical issues of cooperation in trade, economic, energy, transport and logistics spheres. In addition, they exchanged information on the progress of clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine and preparations for its production in the Republic of Belarus", the statement, released on Facebook, says.

The press service of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed support for Lukashenko’s proposal to produce a vaccine against COVID-19 in Belarus, with the use of Russian technology.

In August, Russia became the first country in the world to register a vaccine against the coronavirus, dubbed Sputnik V, and developed by the Gamaleya research institute. The Sputnik V vaccine was administered to volunteers in Belarus in October, as part of ongoing trials. Phase 3 clinical trials were launched in Moscow on 7 September.

The World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on 11 March. To date, more than 48.6 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 1.23 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.