WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th December, 2020) Zambia is currently considering the proposal by Russia for the use of its domestically produced Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, Russian Ambassador to Zambia Alexander Boldyrev told Sputnik.
"The Russian side has submitted to its Zambian partners a proposal to use a domestically developed vaccine against coronavirus ... The initiative was well received here and the issue is under consideration now," Boldyrev said.
"The country has increased the testing capacity of its healthcare system in the past few months," the ambassador explained.
"Recently, one of the reputable foreign travel agencies even included Zambia in the top of the world ranking of the safest travel destinations for travelers during the pandemic," Boldyrev went on to say.
The ambassador recalled that in September, during the official ceremony on behalf of the Russian government, the Zambia's health minister Chitalu Chilufya took delivery of Russian humanitarian aid intended to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
"The reagents for conducting 5,000 individual PCR tests for COVID-19 were delivered by a special flight of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations to neighboring Zimbabwe, and then transported by the embassy's vehicles to Lusaka," Boldyrev revealed.
"The minister of health expressed deep gratitude to the Russian authorities and the people of our country for such timely and valuable support, highlighting the strong nature of Russian-Zambian relations, shown in an act of solidarity in the fight against COVID-19," the diplomat continued.
In the beginning of November, Zambia's Ambassador to Russia Shadreck Luwita told Sputnik that his country was eager to get the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as soon as it hits the market, adding that health ministers of the two countries were already in talks on the matter.
Russia is among the leaders of COVID-19 vaccine development with two of its products � Sputnik V, created by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, and EpiVacCorona, by the Siberian research center Vector � already in the Phase 3 trials.
