Russia will supply 25 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to Egypt, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, one of the vaccine's developers, said in a statement Wednesday.
"RDIF ... and Pharco, one of the leading pharmaceutical groups in Egypt (acting through its key operational subsidiary – Biogeneric Pharma) have agreed to secure the supply of 25 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to Egypt. The vaccine, which is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vectors platform with proven safety and efficacy, will support the efforts of the Ministry of Health of Egypt to secure a vaccine against COVID-19", the statement read.
Pharco President Dr Sherine Abbas Helmy highly appreciated the agreement and noted that the company was considering further cooperation with RDIF, "including the localisation of production in Egypt at Biogeneric Pharma’s facilities within the next few months for the benefit of both countries”.
"The people of Egypt will get a proven vaccine created on a platform with no negative long-term effects, including carcinogenicity or risks for fertility in the future. We expect more countries to include Sputnik V in their vaccine portfolios in the coming weeks”, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.
More than 50 nations from the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the CIS have already sent requests to Russia to acquire the vaccine, the fund previously said.
The RDIF earlier announced agreements with partners from Mexico, Brazil, India, Uzbekistan, and Nepal.
In August, Russia became the first country in the world to register a vaccine against COVID-19, which was developed jointly by the Gamaleya Research Centre and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
