POPOVIC: Serbia to Produce Four Million Doses of Sputnik V Vaccine in the First Phase

The Serbian minister of innovation and technological development, Nenad Popovic, stated for TV Russia 1 that four million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines would be produced in Serbia in the first phase.

– That is enough for the vaccination of two million people. This is not just the issue of vaccination, but also of bringing sovereignty back to our pharmaceutical industry – Popovic said.

He added that the production should start before May 2021, TASS writes, as reported by Tanjug.

As Popovic said earlier, smaller quantities of the substance from which the validation series of the vaccine are to be made at the Torlak Institute should arrive to Serbia by April 16.

These validation series will be sent back to Russia within several days for analysis at the Gamaleya Institute. He said that the testing of the samples lasted for 21 days.

– After they are confirmed to be valid, the Russian side will start a regular shipment of larger quantities of the substance used for the production of the vaccines in Serbia. The production of the vaccine at the Torlak Institute is planned to begin by May 20 – Popovic said earlier.

He added that the “first phase” of the production of the Russian vaccine in Serbia entailed the transport of the substance, the filling of bottles, the packing and the distribution of the vaccines in Serbia and the region.

– After establishing the first phase of the production, we are to start preparing the Feasibility Study of the so-called full production cycle, which entails the production of the substance in Serbia. That will require the procurement of complex technological equipment and expansion of the production capacities of Torlak, but we believe that the full-cycle production could start by the end of this year – Popovic said.

Ministarstvo nauke, tehnološkog razvoja i inovacija Republike Srbije

Institut Torlak

Cabinet for Innovation and Technical Development

Torlak Institute

Gamaleya Institute

Nenad Popović

Russian vaccine

production of the Russian vaccine

Sputnik V