The federal government has reportedly received the samples of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine called Sputnik V.
According to a report by Channels Television, Russia’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Alexey Shebarshin, gave the samples of the COVID-19 vaccine to the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, during a visit to the Ministry in Abuja on Friday.
The report further stated that the Russian Ambassador also handed an aide memoire which gives details about the vaccine to help the Nigerian government conduct further research on it.
Russia licensed the two-shot Sputnik V, which was created by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, for domestic use in August before a large-scale trial had begun — the first country to do so and before any data had been published.
President Vladimir Putin announced three weeks ago that Russia had become the first country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, a move Moscow likened to its success in the space race. The vaccine is called Sputnik V, in homage to the Soviet Union’s Cold War-era satellite programme.
