Serbia's Vucic, Russia's Medvedev Discuss Urgency Of Mass COVID-19 Vaccination

Serbia's Vucic, Russia's Medvedev Discuss Urgency of Mass COVID-19 Vaccination

Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic and Deputy Chair of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday held an online meeting, during which the sides confirmed the good relations between Belgrade and Moscow and discussed the need to vaccinate people against the coronavirus disease, Vucic's administration said

BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic and Deputy Chair of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday held an online meeting, during which the sides confirmed the good relations between Belgrade and Moscow and discussed the need to vaccinate people against the coronavirus disease, Vucic's administration said.

"The sides discussed the coronavirus-induced crisis, as well as the ways in which the two countries are cooperating on this issue. President Vucic thanked Russia for the support of Serbia at the beginning of the major crisis in the healthcare sector and added that the only right solution could be the massive use of the vaccine against COVID-19," the administration said.

Medvedev, in turn, praised the friendly relations between the two brotherly nations and agreed to meet in person "immediately after the shared victory over the coronavirus."

In late July, Vucic said that he expected the COVID-19 vaccine to be fully developed by November-December. Prior to that, the Serbian leader said that the government was in talks with a country that was already using a vaccine against the virus, although he did not say which one.

In the meantime, the mass vaccination of Russian citizens with the domestically-produced Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 might start as early as next month.

Sputnik V, which was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and produced in tandem with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, became the world's first registered vaccine against the coronavirus disease on August 11. The vaccine is currently undergoing phase 3 clinical trials.