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MOSCOW: Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will cost less than $ 20 per person in international markets and Moscow is aiming to produce more than 1 billion doses domestically and abroad next year, its sponsors and developers said. Tuesday (November 24).
The Sputnik vaccine is given in two injections, each of which will cost less than US $ 10 each, according to the official Sputnik V Twitter account. For Russian citizens, the vaccination will be free.
The price announcement comes as Russia seeks to increase distribution and production. Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, said Moscow and its foreign partners had the capacity to produce more than 1 billion doses starting next year, enough to vaccinate more than 500 million people.
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The international market price of Sputnik V unveiled on Tuesday is cheaper than some other Western rivals, such as a vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, which costs 15.50 euros ($ 18) per injection, but more expensive than a vaccine produced by AstraZeneca sold in Europe for around € 2.50 (US $ 3) per shot.
Dmitriev told Reuters that Moscow had deliberately tried to lower the price to make it available to as many people as possible around the world.
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RDIF said in a statement: “Sputnik V will be two or more times cheaper than mRNA vaccines with similar levels of efficacy.”
He said he was basing his evaluation on mRNA vaccines, where prices had already been announced and interim phase three clinical trials were underway.
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RDIF and the Gamaleya National Center said Tuesday that new clinical trial data based on 39 confirmed cases and 18,794 patients who received both injections had shown that Sputnik V was 91.4 percent effective on day 28 and more than 95 percent effective. percent on day 42.
Moscow has been criticized by some Western scientists who have accused it of taking shortcuts in an effort to try to launch the vaccine.
Russia has denied it, citing a Western campaign of dirty tricks to let people off their vaccine in what it believes has turned into a battle for legitimacy and market share.
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