Serbia Buys 2 Million Sputnik V Vaccine Doses

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Serbia's Government announced on January 6, 2021, an agreement to supply 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. The first batch had already been delivered to Serbia in December 2020. And, the Sputnik V vaccine was approved without additional clinical trials by Serbia.

The Sputnik V vaccine (Gam-COVID-Vac) is an adenoviral-based vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. It uses a weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF, stated in a press release, “Serbia has already started vaccination of the population against the new coronavirus infection, and our agreement will allow diversifying the national vaccine portfolio, providing additional opportunities for increasing the vaccination and protection of the population."

Separately, Algeria's government stated it would roll out the Sputnik V vaccine in January 2021, from an initial shipment of 500,000 doses.