Mutual Recognition of COVID-19 Vaccines Debated

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced a general debate during the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on September 25, 2021, 'Russia supports mutual recognition by countries of COVID-19 vaccines approved at a state-level," reported TASS.

"We support mutual recognition of vaccines approved by national oversight bodies, in the interests of lifting restrictions on international travel of citizens as soon as possible," Lavrov said. COVID-19 is our common enemy."

Russia was the world's first country to register a coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, on August 11, 2020, and applied for its registration in the European Union and with the World Health Organization. 

The Sputnik V vaccine is currently in use by seventy countries globally.

"We do not tolerate the attempts to restrict, discriminate against the vaccines that have not been registered in the United States but have proved their efficacy multiple times."

"We already have several EU countries which have registered our vaccines on their soil," he added.

Sputnik V is a two-dose vaccine that uses a weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response. It is a vector vaccine based on adenovirus DNA, in which the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus gene is integrated.

The Sputnik Light Vaccine is a single-dose vaccine.

According to GAVI, on September 22, 2021, there were 117 COVID-19 vaccine candidates undergoing clinical trials and 194 candidates in pre-clinical development.