ALMATY – Kazakhstan has signed an agreement for Russia’s first potential vaccine against COVID-19 after clinical trials are completed, the Central Asian country’s government and supporters of the Russian assignment said on Wednesday.
As a component of the deal, Kazakhstan will first purchase more than 2 million doses and possibly later increase the volume to five million doses, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which supports the vaccine, said in a statement.
The parties did not disclose the value of the deal. The Nur-Sultan government said the vaccine would be manufactured so that Kazakh citizens at risk would not apply to the fee.
The vaccine, named “Sputnik V” after the world’s first satellite introduced through the Soviet Union, was hailed as effective by the Russian government and scientists after two months of small-scale human trials.
But Western experts have been more skeptical, caution has opposed their use until regulatory action and approved tests have been taken around the world and shown to be successful.
Supporters of the Russian assignment said last week they were beginning large-scale trials of the vaccine that would involve more than 40,000 people and would be overseen by a foreign study body. (Information via Olzhas Asezov; additional information via Maria Kannedova in Moscow; editing via Andrew Heavens and Hugh Lawson)
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