"You have no idea how many phone calls we get with the request ‘you are all getting vaccinated, don’t forget about us,’" Antonov said on the Soloviev Live YouTube channel.
The Russian ambassador emphasised that there are 5-7 million Russians living in the US.
"Plus … I’m getting phone calls from my colleagues from countries of the post-Soviet space who are saying … don’t forget about us … we would like to use the Russian vaccine," Antonov said.
He added that ambassadors from CIS countries have asked him to consider ordering Sputnik V deliveries for their missions if the Russian embassy orders Sputnik V vaccines for its staff.
According to analysis of phase 3 clinical trials of Sputnik V, published by The Lancet medical journal, Sputnik V has 91.6 percent efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19.
Sputnik V pioneered approach of using 2 different shots to achieve efficacy above 90% and 100% for severe cases. This gives Sputnik V advantage in strength and duration of immune response as well as being more robust in addressing mutations. Others start to follow this approach.
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) February 4, 2021
In August 2020, Russia became the first country in the world to register a vaccine against the coronavirus, dubbed Sputnik V, and developed by the Gamaleya research institute. Since then, it has been authorized in 26 countries.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the emergency use of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines only. Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev said on Saturday that the addition of Sputnik V vaccine components to Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will help them more effectively fight against coronavirus mutations.
