Russia shows interest in registering its COVID-19 vaccine in Pakistan
Russia has expressed interest in getting their COVID-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik-V’ registered in Pakistan, claiming that it is the first-ever anti-corona vaccine. Sputnik-V was developed last year in August and will be available for public use in the coming few months.
As per reports, Russia wrote a letter to Pakistan asking for details of the process of vaccine registration as well as the demand in the country for the batch of dozes.
In the letter addressed to Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Faisal Sultan, the Russian Direct Investment Fund’s (RDIF) Head, Kirill Dmitriev has said that the Sputnik-V had an emergency use certificate and it was 91.4% effective.
The vaccine made by Russia would be available for the public in February 2021.
The letter has also claimed that the vaccine would be cheaper compared to other vaccines. Its single doze would cost less than $10 (Rs 1605) and it can be stored at -2 to 8 degree centigrade temperature.
Russia’s vaccine was registered in August 2020 and the country offered to sell it to Pakistan in November. Meanwhile, the country has initiated the limited use of their vaccine from last November.
Pakistan is currently experiencing the second wave of the virus. In the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) reported 59 deaths and 1,903 new cases in Pakistan.
As per the data shared by the NCOC, the confirmed cases reported are 2,118 whereas 4,033 people recovered from the contagion during the last 24 hours.