MOSCOW — The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF — Russia's sovereign wealth fund) announced that the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey has registered the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in the country.

The vaccine has been registered in Turkey under the emergency use authorization procedure (EUA). Turkey has become the 63rd country to authorize the use of Sputnik V. Total population of the countries where Sputnik V is approved for use exceeds 3.2 billion people.

Post-vaccination studies in a number of countries demonstrate that Sputnik V is the safest and most effective vaccine against coronavirus. Sputnik V ranks second among coronavirus vaccines globally in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators.

RDIF had earlier reached an agreement with Turkey's Viscoran İlaç pharmaceutical company to cooperate on production of Sputnik V in the country. Viscoran İlaç has carried out necessary studies for localization of the product and aims to launch the production in the country in the upcoming months at several facilities.

To date Sputnik V has also been approved 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.

It has been approved in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Gabon, San-Marino, Ghana, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Guyana, Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala, Moldova, Slovakia, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Laos, Iraq, North Macedonia, Kenya, Morocco, Jordan, Namibia, Azerbaijan, Philippines, Cameroon, Seychelles, Mauritius, Vietnam, Antigua and Barbuda, Mali, Panama, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF, said: "Russia and Turkey have been actively cooperating in the joint fight against coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic and RDIF welcomes the decision by the Ministry of Health of Turkey today to authorize Sputnik V.

“The vaccine is used in dozens of countries around the world and post-vaccination studies in many of them demonstrate that Sputnik V is the safest and most effective vaccine against coronavirus.

“The Russian vaccine will contribute to saving lives, preventing the spread of coronavirus and creating a long-term immunity among the population in Turkey and will help to return to normal life soon."

Sputnik V has a number of key advantages:

• Efficacy of Sputnik V is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from Dec. 5, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

• 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.

• 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. — PRNewswire