Coronavirus: Belarus first country after Russia to start Sputnik-V vaccination

Moscow [Russia], December 29 (ANI): Belarus has become the first country after Russia to begin vaccination of people with Sputnik-V against Covid-19, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Tuesday.
“Belarus becomes the first country in the world after Russia to start vaccination of its people against COVID-19 with #SputnikV vaccine,” a tweet from the official handle of Sputnik-V stated.
The Sputnik-V vaccine has been developed and produced by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.
“We can officially confirm that according to the available data the vaccine is safe and effective, no serious or unexpected side effects have been revealed,” Belarusian Healthcare Minister Dmitry Pinevich, was quoted by Belarus media earlier this month.

In a global race to beat Covid-19, scores of vaccines are being developed and a handful is in the final stages of testing, like Sputnik, Pfizer and Oxford.
On Monday, the Serum Institute of India‘s chief executive Adar Poonawalla announced that the rollout of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine is expected in January.
Other than Belarus, India too will be producing 300 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
The efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine has been claimed to be 91.4 per cent.
Belarus on Monday had reported 1,814 new COVID-19 cases that took its total to 188, 588. (ANI)

Argentina to begin rollout of Russian COVID-19 vaccine

Buenos Aires [Argentina], December 29 (ANI/Sputnik): Argentina will begin vaccinating its population against coronavirus on Tuesday, using Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
Health workers will be first in line to receive the first shot of the two-component vaccine. The vaccine will be administered across all 23 provinces and in the capital Buenos Aires.
Some 300,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in the Latin American country last Thursday, a day after it authorized the emergency use of Sputnik V. Under the contract, Russia will deliver ten million doses.
Carla Vizzotti, the country’s secretary for health access, described the campaign on Monday as “the most important vaccination in our history.”
Argentina has extended mandatory social distancing until January 31. The country confirmed 5,030 new cases of infection and 149 deaths on Monday, bringing the totals to, respectively, 1,583,297 cases and 42,650 deaths. (ANI/Sputnik)