Algeria Able to Produce Russian Sputnik V Vaccine: Minister

On Thursday, Algerian Pharmaceutical Industry Minister, Lotfi Benbahmed said that his country is able to produce the Russian "Sputnik V" vaccine against coronavirus.

Benbahmed's remarks came during the signing of a tripartite partnership agreement between Algerian, Russian and Korean pharmaceutical companies.

The Algerian minister's statements also come a day after the Director General of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, announced that there is a possibility to start producing the "Sputnik V" vaccine in Egypt and Algeria.

"More than 40 countries, representing more than 50% of the world's population, have expressed interest in the Sputnik V vaccine," he said.

Dmitriev added that the fund has received orders for more than 1.2 billion doses of the vaccine.

"We will work on their production, in particular through partnerships with India, China and Brazil, Korea, Argentina and other countries producing the vaccine," Dmitriev said.

Notably, Russia registered the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world under the name of Sputnik V on August 11.

The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. Post-registration testing of the vaccine begun in Moscow on September 7, with first volunteers getting the first vaccine shot on September 9.

Preliminary results of the trials suggest that the effectiveness of the vaccine surpasses 95% on the 42nd day after vaccination, provided that the patient received the second dose. Besides Russia, clinical trials are also taking place in Belarus, Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates.