COVID-19: Russia Releases First Batch of Sputnik V Vaccine For Civilian Use

Moscow: The first batch of COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V was dispatched for civil circulation on Tuesday, news agency ANI reported.

This comes a month after Russia became the first country to approve the public use of a Coronavirus vaccine.

“The first batch of the vaccine for preventing the novel coronavirus infection, Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry passed the required quality tests and was produced for civilian circulation. In the near future, the supplies of the first batches of the vaccine to the regions are expected,” the Russian Health Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier this month, a study published in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet said that the Russian vaccine was safe with no serious side effects and produces a decent amount of anti-bodies response against the novel Coronavirus.