Sputnik V Becomes Most Exported Russian Medicine Over Two Years, RDIF Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine has become the most exported medicine in Russia's history in just two years since its registration, Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Thursday.

"Over the past two years since its registration, the Sputnik V vaccine has become the most exported medicine in Russia’s history," the RDIF CEO said, adding that the vaccine has proven itself as one of the most effective and safest tools for fighting the coronavirus infection globally.

Registered on August 11, 2020, Gam-COVID-Vac, a two-component vector-based vaccine, became the world’s first officially recognized coronavirus vaccine. It was created by the Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology and given a market name of Sputnik V.

Sputnik V has been used in 71 countries with population of over 4 billion people, with studies on its efficacy published in The Lancet, Nature, Vaccines, Cell Reports Medicine and other major international journals, Dmitriev said, adding that the vaccine showed high efficacy in the fight against new mutations of the coronavirus, including the Delta and Omicron strains.

The pandemic should be an important lesson for entire humankind, the RDIF CEO said. Unity and collective effort are essential when people’s lives are at stake and this is the only way to counter future threats, including those of an epidemiological nature, he added.