Mass Vaccination Can Start Soon as Sputnik V Production is Growing to 2Mln Doses

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The total number of produced doses of Russia's coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, will reach 2 million soon, making the mass immunisation of Russian citizens possible, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Friday.

Russian authorities have announced that the production of Sputnik V is growing ahead of the launch of a vaccination campaign.

"In the near future, the total volume of produced doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will reach 2 million, which will allow us to start the vaccination of our country's population. The production volume and the number of doses introduced into civil circulation are constantly growing", the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a press release.

A laboratory assistant holds a tube with Russia's "Sputnik-V" vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition in Budapest, Hungary, November 19, 2020.

© REUTERS / Matyas Borsos

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the government to launch mass vaccination against the coronavirus next week. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has announced that vaccination stations will open in Moscow on Saturday. Medical personnel, social service workers, and teachers will be the first to have access to the vaccine.

Sputnik V was the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world, officially registered in Russia on 11 August. The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and is currently completing phase 3 clinical trials. Preliminary results of the drug have shown over 95 percent efficacy.