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Uzbekistan Receives Delayed Batch of Sputnik V

By Vusala Abbasova August 31, 2021

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A total of 90,000 shots of the second component of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine has been delivered to Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent.

Russia sent the delayed batch of its homegrown Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to Uzbekistan on Monday.

A total of 90,000 shots of the Russian-made vaccine’s second component have been delivered to Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent. According to the Uzbek health ministry, the country has so far received a total of 460,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses.

Uzbekistan will use the newly arrived shots to vaccinate citizens who have already received the first component of Sputnik V.

Initially, a total of 160,000 doses of the second component were supposed to arrive in Uzbekistan in early August. 

Uzbekistan is among countries that received only a fraction of the Russian-made vaccine as Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) - responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad - delayed delivery. The manufacturer pledged it would resolve difficulties with its overseas customers in August as a result of an increase in vaccine manufacturing capacity.

Sputnik V, also known as Gam-COVID-Vac, was Russia’s first vaccine to be registered for use. While the Sputnik V’s efficacy is confirmed at 91.4 percent based on data analysis of the final control point of clinical trials, the vaccine efficacy against severe coronavirus cases is said to be 100 percent.

Developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Sputnik V uses harmless viruses as a carrier to deliver a small fragment of the coronavirus to the body. The two-dose vaccine uses the unique technology of combining two different vectors based on human adenovirus and should be administered 21 days apart.

Despite a wave of skepticism towards the Russian-made vaccine over its incomplete clinical trials, recent research reportedly suggests that it is safe and effective.

As of today, Sputnik V has been approved for use in nearly 70 countries. In some countries, the vaccine has been registered under the emergency use authorization procedure without additional clinical trials. According to the Sputnik V team, the demand for the vaccine continues to increase due to its exceptional safety and efficacy.

With a population of about 35 million people, Uzbekistan has so far confirmed over 156,000 infection cases since the pandemic hit the country. The number of death from the virus stands at 1,082, while over 148,500 have recovered from the deadly disease.

Uzbekistan rolled out the national-wide vaccination campaign in April 2021. The list of vaccines registered in the country along with Sputnik V includes a vaccine manufactured in India under license from the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and a jab developed by Moderna. 

In addition, Uzbekistan authorized the Chinese vaccine manufactured by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical.

Uzbekistan has actively participated in the trials of the Chinese-made vaccine, with 7,000 volunteers aged between 18 and 59 participated. As a result, Zhifei Longcom agreed to recognize Uzbekistan as a co-author of the vaccine. 

To date, over 1,8 million people have been fully vaccinated in Uzbekistan.