The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) and Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera Torlak announced the agreement to produce Sputnik V in Serbia.
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Serbia will become the first country in Southern Europe to produce Sputnik V. The vaccine could be exported to other countries of the region at a later stage.
Production of Sputnik V is due to start by May 2021 at facilities of the “Torlak†Institute. “Torlak†Institute is Serbia’s national vaccine producer supplying healthcare institutions in the country with vaccines for the compulsory immunization program.
First batch of Sputnik V was delivered to Serbia on December 30, 2020. Vaccination against coronavirus with the Russian vaccine started in Serbia on January 6, 2021.
Serbia will become the first country in Southern Europe to produce Sputnik V, and the vaccine could be exported to other countries of the region at a later stage, a statement on the Sputnik V website said.
RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev thanked the Serbian government for the constant support and trust in Sputnik V.
“Serbia was among the first countries in the world to approve Sputnik V and use it to protect the population against coronavirus. Production of the Russian vaccine by the Torlak Institute provides for easier logistics and will also help to speed up the vaccination program in the country.â€
Serbian Minister of Innovations and Technological Development Nenad Popovic thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin, the government of the Russian Federation and the RDIF for their support in preserving the health and lives of people in the Republic of Serbia, the statement said.
“The production of the Sputnik V vaccine at the Torlak Institute will strengthen the capacities of our country to fight against the coronavirus pandemic and open new perspectives for the distribution of this vaccine in the region of Southern Europe,†Popovic said.
“Transfer of technologies for the production of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia to Serbia will contribute to the renewal of our country's sovereignty in the field of vaccine production, which will be an important resource of every country in the future," he noted.
To date Sputnik V has been registered in 56 countries globally with total population of over 1.5 billion people. Efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6% as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals.
The vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots. ■