The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Thursday announced the approval of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control of Nigeria (NAFDAC).
An official release stated that Nigeria has become the 68th country in the world to approve the Russian vaccine. The total population of all countries where Sputnik V is approved for use now exceeds 3.7 billion people, which is nearly half of the global population.
"Real-world data obtained during vaccination with Sputnik V in a number of countries (Argentina, San-Marino, Serbia, Hungary, Bahrain, Mexico, UAE, Philippines among others) demonstrate that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against coronavirus," the release said.
The Russian vaccine ranks second among coronavirus vaccines globally in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators, the RDIF said.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said: "Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa and the approval of Sputnik V 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. Approval in Nigeria will make an important contribution to the country's fight against the pandemic."
Sputnik V has also been approved in Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia, Armenia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Republika Srpska (entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bahrain, Montenegro, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Other such countries include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Gabon, San-Marino, Ghana, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Guyana, Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala, Moldova, Slovakia, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Laos, Iraq, North Macedonia, Kenya, Morocco, Jordan, Namibia, Azerbaijan, Philippines, Cameroon, Seychelles, Mauritius, Vietnam, Antigua and Barbuda, Mali, Panama, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Turkey, Albania, Maldives, Ecuador and Brazil.
Sputnik V has a number of key advantages which include 97.6 per cent efficacy. This data is based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from December 5, 2020, to March 31, 2021.
The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.
( With inputs from ANI )
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