Moscow : The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) announces the registration of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in the Slovak Republic.

Thus Slovakia has become the 39th country in the world and the second country of the European Union to authorize the use of Sputnik V. The vaccine was approved under the emergency use authorization procedure. The approval is based on the results of the clinical trials of Sputnik V in Russia and a comprehensive assessment of the vaccine by experts in Slovakia.

First shipment of the vaccine to Slovakia was delivered on March 1.

Sputnik V is one of the world’s top three coronavirus vaccines in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators. It is now registered in 39 countries with total population of over 1.1 billion people.

The vaccine had been approved earlier in Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia, Armenia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Republika Srpska (entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bahrain, Montenegro, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Gabon, San-Marino, Ghana, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Guyana, Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala and Moldova.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said:

“In Europe Sputnik V vaccine has been approved in Slovakia, Hungary, San-Marino, Serbia, Montenegro, Republika Srpska, Belarus and Russia with other countries of the region also showing strong interest in it. Vaccine partnership and diversification of national vaccine portfolios are the key for helping people feel safe and protected, restoring economic activity and ending the pandemic as soon as possible.

We have received numerous requests from EU states to provide Sputnik V directly to them based on the reviews of their national agencies. We will continue to do so as well as work with EMA based on the rolling review procedure we initiated in January.”

Sputnik V has a number of key advantages:

• Efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6% as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world’s oldest and most respected medical journals; it is one of only three vaccines in the world with efficacy of over 90%; Sputnik V provides full protection against severe cases of COVID-19.
• The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.
• Sputnik V uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
• The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.
• The developers of the Sputnik V vaccine are working collaboratively with AstraZeneca on a joint clinical trial to improve the efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine.
• There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.
• The storage temperature of Sputnik V at +2+8 C means it can be stored in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.
• The price of Sputnik V is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.