First batch of Sputnik V, Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, to be supplied in September - 40,000 volunteers ready for 3rd-stage trials

Russia's Health Minister has announced that large-scale deliveries of the world's first registered coronavirus vaccine will start in September. Mikhail Murashko also said on Monday that the third-stage trials were ready to begin.

It is planned that, in total, 40,000 volunteers will participate, with more than 2,500 already chosen. "First of all, of course, the vaccines will be supplied for healthcare workers and teachers, [and] this will be absolutely voluntary," Murashko said. "The first large batches will be supplied as early as September."

He also added that currently several more vaccines against coronavirus are at the clinical trials or registration stage. "That is why I think that we’ll reach optimum volumes in November or December. We’ll need to do separate inoculations against flu and coronavirus infection," he said.

Groups for post-registration monitoring are now being formed. Last Thursday, the Minister reported that deliveries of the first doses of the vaccine to medical institutions for post-registration trials had already started.

Registered on August 11, Sputnik V is first Covid-19 vaccine to have obtained state registration. The formula was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center in Moscow. In all, over 160 vaccines are being developed worldwide with over 30 of them at the stage of clinical trials on humans.

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