Russia agrees to supply Egypt with 25m doses of COVID-19 vaccine

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) agreed to supply 25 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19) to Egypt through Pharco, one of the major pharmaceutical groups in Egypt.

“The agreement between RDIF and Pharco will help Egypt obtain an efficient and safe vaccine, Sputnik V, for almost 25% of its population,” CEO of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, said in a statement on Wednesday.

For her part, Sherine Abbas Helmy, Founder and President of Pharco, said, “We are considering numerous further cooperation opportunities jointly with RDIF, including the localisation of production in Egypt at the facilities of Biogeneric Pharma within the next few months for the benefit of both countries.”

On August 11, Russia granted regulatory approval the Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, as the world’s first registered vaccine against COVID-19.

“Clinical trials of the Russian vaccine have shown no serious adverse events, with Sputnik V generating a stable humoral and cellular immune response in 100% of participants.”

The Gamaleya Institute completed the second phase of clinical trials of the vaccine