Iran and Russia are discussing joint production of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali has revealed.

Jalali said that he held talks with Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funded the development of the world’s first vaccine against coronavirus, and announced that they will work in that direction.

The RDIF Head previously stated that the fund had already received requests for a total of 1.2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine. The organisation expects the monthly production of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine to reach 10 million doses by the end of December.

In August, Russia registered the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, which had been developed by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. According to the health ministry, Sputnik V is safe and has proven to be capable of building an immunity against the virus. The vaccine is yet to complete the required Phase 3 of clinical trials.

As many as 20 countries have voiced their intention to procure the drug, including India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, among others.

Source: Sputnik