The Russian Direct Investment Fund: Sputnik V vaccine approved in Paraguay

MOSCOW, Jan. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund) announces the approval of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Paraguay.

The vaccine was registered under the emergency use authorization procedure without additional clinical trials in the country. Sputnik V had been registered under the same procedure earlier in Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Palestine and Venezuela.

Supplies of the vaccine will be facilitated by RDIF's international partners in India, China, South Korea and other countries.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said:

"Registration of Sputnik V vaccine in Paraguay proves the increasing interest of Latin American countries in a safe and effective Russian vaccine against coronavirus. We expect that more countries in the region will also approve it soon and are ready to create new partnerships to pool efforts in the fight against the pandemic."

Sputnik V has a number of key advantages:

• Efficacy of Sputnik V is over 90%, with full protection against severe cases of COVID-19.
• The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.
• Sputnik V uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
• The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.
• Over 1.5mn people have already been vaccinated with Sputnik V.
• The developers of the Sputnik V vaccine are working collaboratively with AstraZeneca on a joint clinical trial to improve the efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine.
• The Sputnik V vaccine has been approved in Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Argentina, Bolivia, Algeria, Palestine and Venezuela; the process to approve the vaccine in the EU has been initiated.
• There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.
• The storage temperature of Sputnik V at +2+8 C means it can be stored in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.
• The price of Sputnik V is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors. RDIF acts as a catalyst for direct investment in the Russian economy. RDIF's management company is based in Moscow. Currently, RDIF has experience of the successful joint implementation of more than 80 projects with foreign partners totaling more than RUB2 tn and covering 95% of the regions of the Russian Federation. RDIF portfolio companies employ more than 800,000 people and generate revenues which equate to more than 6% of Russia's GDP. RDIF has established joint strategic partnerships with leading international co-investors from more than 18 countries that total more than $40 bn. Further information can be found at www.rdif.ru

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