Russia plans starting a monthly production of about 30 million anti-COVID-19 vaccine doses in July-August, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told TASS on Monday, Trend reports.
According to Manturov, Russia may up its production of anti-coronavirus vaccine doses to a monthly rate of 45 million by the end of the year.
"We plan to hit the production figure of 30 million doses in July, and this figure will be approximately the same for August and September," Manturov said in an interview with TASS adding that the number of two-component vaccines would depend on the final request from the Health Ministry regarding the production of the one-component Sputnik Light vaccine.
To date, four anti-coronavirus vaccines have been registered in Russia: Sputnik V and Sputnik Light from the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, EpiVacCorona by the Vector State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology, and CoviVac vaccine by the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center. Vaccines Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, and CoviVac are two-component, Sputnik Light is a one-component vaccine.
The second component of Sputnik V is administered after 21 days, EpiVacCorona is injected with an interval of no less than 14-21 days, while CoviVac is introduced with an interval of 14 days.
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has been approved for use in 67 countries totaling over 3.5 billion people. More than 30 nations have already launched mass vaccination campaigns using Sputnik V. The Russian vaccine boasts a 91.6% efficiency rate, which is confirmed by the data published in the Lancet medical journal.