RDIF Says Applied for WHO Pre-Qualification of Sputnik V COVID Vaccine

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said Tuesday it had applied to the World Health Organisation for pre-qualification and accelerated registration of coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, according to a press release issued Tuesday.

"The Russian Direct Investment Fund, (RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund), has submitted applications to the World Health Organization (WHO) for accelerated registration (Emergency Use Listing, EUL) and prequalification of the world’s first registered vaccine against the coronavirus Sputnik V, which is based on a well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors," the fund said in a press release. 

The fund remarked that Russia was one of the first countries in the world to apply to WHO for pre-qualification.

Russia registered the world's first coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, on 11 August. Another Russian vaccine, EpiVacCorona, was registered earlier this month and its production has already started.