ISLAMABAD: Russia has once again offered to supply Pakistan with its Sputnik-V vaccine.
Sources privy to the development told that the Russian Direct Investment Fund’s (RDIF) head wrote a letter to Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan through the country’s embassy in Islamabad seeking details of the vaccine registration process.
In the letter, the sources said Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the RDIF, evinced interest in registration of the Russian vaccine in Pakistan and sought details thereof and the country’s demand for supply of the first batch of jabs.
The locally-produced Sputnik-V is the first registered Covid-19 vaccine in the world and has emergency-use approval, the letter said, adding the vaccine is 91.4 per cent effective and will be widely available next month.
One dose of the vaccine will cost less than $10 in the international market, it said and added the vaccine is cheaper and easily transportable and can be stored at a temperature ranging between minus 2 degrees Celsius and eight degrees Celsius.
The sources said Russia has already provided Pakistan with details of clinical trials of Sputnik-V. They said the Russian offer for provision of the vaccine is under consideration.
