Bolivia registers Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use authorisation

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Wednesday announced that Bolivia's State Agency for Medicines and Health Technologies has registered Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine under emergency use authorisation procedure.

According to a press release, the vaccine was approved by Agencia Estatal De Medicamentos Y Tecnologias En Salud (AGEMED) based on the results of phase 3 trials conducted in Russia, without additional trials in Bolivia.

"Registration of Sputnik V in Bolivia will help save many lives and prevent the spread of coronavirus using a safe and effective vaccine based on proven human adenoviral vectors platform. We appreciate our partnership with Bolivia's regulators and expect more countries in Latin America and other parts of the world to register the vaccine under emergency use authorization procedure soon," said Kirill Dmitriev, RDIF CEO.

On December 30, RDIF and Bolivia's Health Supply Centre, CEASS, announced an agreement to supply the country with 5.6 million doses of Sputnik V, which would be sufficient to vaccinate around 2.6 million people.

The vaccine supplies to Bolivia will be facilitated by international partners of RDIF in India, China, South Korea and other countries. The agreement will make it possible for more than 20 per cent of Bolivia's population to access the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Sputnik V was registered by Argentina's regulator ANMAT under the same procedure on December 23, while the phase 3 clinical trial data was also accepted by regulators in Serbia and Belarus to begin the vaccination of the population.

The vaccination process in Belarus started on December 29, while it started on January 6 in Serbia.

The efficacy of the vaccine is 91.4 per cent according to the results of the third and final control point analysis of Russian phase 3 clinical trials data obtained 21 days after administering the first dose to volunteers.

The vaccine demonstrated 100 per cent efficacy against severe coronavirus cases, said the release.

( With inputs from ANI )