The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Torlak Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera have agreed to produce Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus, in Serbia.

Serbia will become the first country in Southern Europe to produce Sputnik V. The vaccine could be exported to other countries of the region at a later stage, announced RDIF in a press statement on March 25.

Production of Sputnik V is due to start by May2021 at facilities of the Torlak Institute. The Torlak Institute is Serbia’s national vaccine producer supplying healthcare institutions in the country with vaccines for the compulsory immunisation programme.

The first batch of Sputnik V was delivered to Serbia on December 30, 2020. Vaccination against coronavirus with the Russian vaccine started in Serbia on January 6.

To date Sputnik V has been registered in 56 countries globally with total population of over 1.5bn people. The efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6%, as confirmed by data published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals.

The vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and 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.

“We are grateful to the government of Serbia for the constant support and trust in Sputnik V. Serbia was among the first countries in the world to approve Sputnik V and use it to protect the population against coronavirus. Production of the Russian vaccine by Torlak Institute provides for easier logistics and will also help to speed up the vaccination program in the country,” said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RFID.

“We are grateful to the president of Russia, Mr. Vladimir Putin, the government of the Russian Federation and the Russian Direct Investment Fund for their support in preserving the health and lives of people in the Republic of Serbia. The production of the Sputnik V vaccine at the Torlak Institute will strengthen the capacities of our country to fight against the coronavirus pandemic and open new perspectives for the distribution of this vaccine in the region of Southern Europe. Transfer of technologies for the production of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia to Serbia will contribute to the renewal of our country's sovereignty in the field of vaccine production, which will be an important resource of every country in the future,” said Nenad Popovic, Serbia’s minister of innovations and technological development and co-chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation between Serbia and Russia.

Serbia is one of the most advanced countries in Europe in the speed of its vaccine rollout, having secured supplies of vaccines from several different sources. It had been helping neighbouring countries that so far have struggled to secure any vaccines. 

As well as Sputnik V, Serbia has announced plans to product the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.