OREANDA-NEWS. Mass vaccination against COVID-19 in Russia should begin before the New Year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “I can’t say the exact date. […] The task is to ensure that there are the minimum time stages and to provide everyone as soon as possible. The task is grandiose. Just as now each state faces this task, so we do,” the spokesperson for the Russian President explained.

According to Peskov, citizens will be vaccinated against coronavirus on a voluntary basis, in stages which means taking into account the “geography of the country” and the storage characteristics of the medications.

Russia has registered two vaccines against COVID-19. The first is Sputnik V, developed by specialists of the Gamaleya National Research Center with the support of the Russian Direct Investment Fund; the second is EpiVacCorona from the center Vector under the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing. Now the drugs are undergoing the third, post-registration phase of testing on volunteers. Sputnik V is 95 % effective after a second interim analysis of research data; this drug is included in the list of ten vaccines in the world that are closest to mass production.