Russian COVID vaccine for Kazakhstan to be produced by int’l partner

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Wednesday that the production of Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, for Kazakhstan would be carried out by one of its international partners.

Earlier in the day, Kazakh state pharmaceutical distributor SK-Pharmacy reached an agreement with the RDIF to procure and distribute the Russian vaccine in Kazakhstan.

“The supply of the vaccine for Kazakhstan is planned to be produced by one of the RDIF’s international partners,” the fund said.

According to the press release, the supply will include more than 2 million initial doses with the outlook to increase the amount to 5 million doses.

On Aug. 11, the Russian government officially registered Sputnik V as the world’s first vaccine against COVID-19.Though the vaccine is still underway with the third — last — phase of clinical trials, as per the protocols of the World Health Organisation, Russian health officials said it had proven the capability to produce stable immunity against the coronavirus.

According to RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev, the fund has received applications from more than 20 countries for the purchase of around one billion doses of the vaccine.Russia has contracted the vaccine’s production in five countries, with the expected capacity to produce 500 million doses per year.