Amid the world race to identify a vaccine or cure for the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus, which has been ravaging the world as a Pandemic, Russia announced registering the world's first ever vaccine - Sputnik V! Named after one of Soviet Union's most popular satellite's, this Sputnik V vaccine was jointly developed by Russia's Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). This vaccine was registered by Russia on August 11th, despite concerns from the rest of the medical fraternity that it had not cleared all the trials and that there was not sufficient data on the efficacy of this vaccine. 

Now, the latest reports coming out from Russia is that the first batch of the Sputnik V vaccine has been released for civil circulation. The Russian Health Ministry has added that the regional deliveries of this vaccine will begin happening very soon. A statement by the Health Ministry reads, "The first batch of the ‘Gam-COVID-Vac’ [Sputnik V] vaccine for the prevention of the new coronavirus infection, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Ministry of Health of Russia, has passed the necessary quality tests in the laboratories of Roszdravnadzor [medical device regulator] and has been released into civil circulation."

Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin had recently expressed hope that the majority of the Russian capital's inhabitants would be vaccinated against the deadly Corona Virus, in the next few months. Despite reservations from a number of quarters against the efficacy of Sputnik V, the Russian President Vladimir Putin had endorsed this vaccine and also revealed that one of his two daughters had been inoculated with it. Meanwhile, the Russian Health Minister - Mikhail Murashko had announced that vaccination against COVID-19 for the volunteers of Phase 3 of the clinical trials, would start this week. The CEO of the RDIF has meanwhile announced that the clinical trials of Sputnik V would begin in other countries including India, this month. Earlier, Russia had revealed that a minimum of 20 other countries like UAE, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Indonesia and others had expressed their interest in getting the Sputnik V vaccine. Stay tuned for updates...