Russia

Some Russian Cosmonauts May Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19 With Sputnik V, Source Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Some cosmonauts and employees of the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center may be vaccinated against the COVID-19 coronavirus with Sputnik V, a source in the space and rocket industry told Sputnik News.
Sputnik

"Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin has tasked the head of the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center, Pavel Vlasov, together with the Federal Medical-Biological Agency with preparing the center's team for the vaccination. We are also considering the vaccination of some members of the cosmonauts' team," the source said.

According to the source, members of the next crew of the International Space Station — Oleg Novitskiy, Pyotr Dubrov and Sergei Korsakov — will not be vaccinated with Sputnik V.

The source added that the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Federal Medical-Biological Agency were also considering the vaccination of employees of the cosmodromes of Baikonur and Vostochny.

Sputnik V was the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world — Russia officially registered it on August 11. The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and is currently completing phase 3 clinical trials. Preliminary results of clinical trials of Sputnik V have demonstrated over 90 percent efficacy.

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