Russia delivers 50,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Tajikistan

A plane of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation carrying the vaccines landed at the Dushanbe airport in the early morning on Friday, August 13. 

The vaccines have been handed over the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP) of Tajikistan. 

“This is humanitarian aid from the Russian Federation to Tajikistan,” Navrouz Jafarov, the head of the MoHSPP Directorate for Epidemiological Safety, told Asia-Plus in an interview. 

“It has not yet been decided where and how the vaccine will be distributed, Tajik chief sanitary inspector added.  

Recall, Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine may get UN health agency’s approval next month.  Citing the World Health Organization (WHO) Assistant Director-General Mariangela Simao, TASS says Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is currently going through legal procedures to secure an approval of the UN health agency.  

"As for Sputnik, the process is ongoing, we have some legal procedures undergoing at the moment." Mariangela Simao told a briefing on August 12.

Sputnik V was certified in Russia on August 11, 2020, becoming the first officially registered vaccine against coronavirus worldwide. It became the first preparation on the adenoviral platform developed using the unique heterogeneous boosting ("vaccine cocktail") approach.  Thanks to the use of two different vectors for the vaccine’s two components, a stronger and more durable immune response is achieved.  To date, Sputnik V has been certified in 69 countries with the total population surpassing 3.7 billion people.