Sputnik V vaccine registered in Venezuela

Moscow, January 13, 2021 – The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) announces the registration of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus by the Ministry of Health of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The vaccine was registered under the emergency use authorization procedure. Sputnik V had been registered earlier under emergency use authorization procedure in Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia and Palestine.

Supplies of the vaccine will be facilitated by RDIF’s international partners in India, China, South Korea and other countries.

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

“We welcome the decision of the Ministry of Health of Venezuela to approve the use of Sputnik V - a safe and effective vaccine to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Sputnik V is an important part of national vaccine portfolios of several Latin American countries now and we expect more vaccine partnerships in the region in coming weeks”.

Sputnik V was registered thanks to a number of key advantages:

·        Efficacy of Sputnik V is over 90%, with 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.

·        Over 1.5mn people have already been vaccinated with Sputnik V.

·        The developers of the Sputnik V vaccine are working collaboratively with AstraZeneca on a joint clinical trial to improve the efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine.

·        The Sputnik V vaccine has been approved in Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Argentina, Bolivia, Algeria and Palestine; the process to approve the vaccine in the EU has been initiated.

·        There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.

·        The price of Sputnik V is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.