Russian Cosmonauts to Be Inoculated with Sputnik V Vaccine against RDIF Says

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Russian cosmonauts will be inoculated against coronavirus with Russia’s own Sputnik V vaccine, the country’s sovereign wealth fund said Tuesday, Sputnik reported.

According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, cosmonauts training at the preparation center named after Yury Gagarin and all the personnel interacting with them will soon have an opportunity to be vaccinated with “Sputnik V, named after the Earth’s first artificial satellite.”

Other employees of the training center and the space agency will also have a chance to get vaccinated at a later date, the fund said.

Last week, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced the launch of the Russian capital’s COVID-19 vaccination program, adding that 5,000 frontline workers, including medical personnel, social service workers, and teachers, had signed up within the first five hours.

Russia registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, on 11 August. About 50 countries have already ordered 1.2 billion doses of the vaccine. Another vaccine, EpiVacCorona, was registered in October. And a third one developed by the Chumakov Institute is currently undergoing clinical trials which are expected to be completed at the end of the year.