20 countries from Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia have placed a cumulative order of a billion doses for Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine.
This was made known by the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, at a conference dedicated to the announcement of the vaccine’s registration.
Dmitriev stated that they had already gotten orders for one billion doses, saying:
He explained that everything produced in Russia will be used domestically, and doses for use in other countries will be made abroad.
According to Dmitriev, the RDIF is also working on a humanitarian aid program for developing nations, aimed at making the COVID-19 vaccine available in states that can’t afford to make or buy their own.
While saying that vaccination is an acute problem in the world’s poorest countries, he stated that the fund believes “people around the world should have equal access to a vaccine, regardless of their financial situation.”
The development comes on the heels of Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing that the country had registered its first COVID-19 vaccine, adding that one of his daughters had already used it.
