Indonesia becomes 70th nation to authorise Sputnik V

Indonesia has approved the use of Russia's Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the country.

With this, Indonesia has become the 70th country in the world to register the Russian vaccine. Sputnik V was granted an emergency use authorization, according to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

Sputnik V is the sixth vaccine to be approved for use in Indonesia. The country has earlier authorized Sinovac, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer-BioNTech.

According to Asia Nikkei, Indonesia, which has a population of approximately 270.2 million, has fully vaccinated 32.6 million people so far, while 58 million others have received their first shot.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said that the approval in Indonesia is based on the results of a comprehensive assessment of the vaccine and will make an important contribution in the country's fight against the pandemic.

"Indonesia is one the most populated nations in Asia and inclusion of Sputnik V in the national vaccine portfolio will provide for using one of the safest and most effective vaccines in the world. Sputnik V is based on a proven human adenoviral vectors platform and is successfully used in over 50 countries," Dmitriev said.

( With inputs from ANI )