Uzbekistan received the delivery of the first batch of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine on Friday. The delivery was carried out with the assistance of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the Ministry of Health said.
Sputnik V, developed by the Russian Scientific Center named after NF Gamaleya, was certified and approved for emergency use in Uzbekistan in mid-February. The certification process began after receiving the necessary materials from the developers, in particular, the results of the third stage of clinical trials.
Half of the cost of the entire purchased volume of Sputnik V was financed by the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, with a total of 1 million doses planned to be purchased.
As reported earlier 4 million citizens were projected to be vaccinated in April-June, and a total of 7 million before 2022, or about 20% of the population.
Mass vaccination of senior citizens aged over 65 and medical workers with the Uzbek-Chinese vaccine and the AstraZeneca vaccine started on April 1. Currently, work is underway to deliver additional doses of these vaccines to the country.