"The first 20 doses have arrived in Serbia where they will undergo tests in the Torlak Institute of Virology. The Security Intelligence Agency has delivered them there and our experts will test them in the upcoming days and weeks, and will say whether we can accept them or not," Vucic said on late Thursday in a televised address.
On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the Serbian government had expressed readiness to look into launching the production of coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V jointly with Russia and the first batch of the vaccine would arrive in Serbia by the end of this week to undergo laboratory trials.
Sputnik V was introduced in August, becoming the first ever coronavirus vaccine in the world. It was developed by Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), in cooperation with Gamaleya Institute. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the week instructed the government to start mass vaccination by the end of the next week.
At least 10 more coronavirus drugs are being developed in Russia, apart from vaccines of Gamaleya, Vector and Chumakov centers, according to Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Russian federal service for surveillance on consumer rights and human wellbeing.