20 February, 2021
Russia has approved its third COVID-19 vaccine ‘CoviVac’ for domestic use on Saturday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on state television.
Russia has already approved two COVID-19 vaccines. 'Russia is the only country to have already three vaccines against COVID-19', stated Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
Sputnik V was the first vaccine to be approved. It was developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute. Mass vaccination was launched in December as the vaccine showed to be 91.4% effective.
A second vaccine was developed by the Vector Institute in Novosibirsk.
However, the mass production of CoviVac by the Chumakov Centre is yet to begin.