More than 500 million people will be able to take the pioneering Russian Sputnik V vaccine to fight corona virus next year, according to its developers, who say the jab will be sold cheaper than those of its foreign competitors.
The drug will be produced not only in Russia but also by leading foreign pharmaceutical companies who have agreed to cooperation deals with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). Talks with additional international partners are underway to further increase production capacity. Sputnik V will therefore be two or more times cheaper than mRNA vaccines with similar efficacy levels, RDIF said in a statement.
According to the producer, a single dose of the Russian vaccine is going to cost $10. Meaning it will set each person back $20 for two shots , which is way below the price tags of US biotech firms Pfizer and Moderna, who are eyeing $39 and $50-74 for their products, respectively.
Notably, it’s only foreign buyers who would need to pay up, as Russians themselves will be getting Sputnik V for free. International customers are scheduled to receive first shipments of the vaccine in January. The new data announced by Moscow’s Gamaleya Center, which developed the Sputnik V formula, suggests that its vaccine is 95 percent effective. The result was based on Phase Three clinical trials that involved almost 20,000 volunteers who were administered two shots of the drug.