By Tony Winterburn • Published: 08 Mar 2021 • 21:44
Italy To Become First EU Country To Produce Russian Covid-19 Vaccine. image: pexels
Italy To Become First EU Country To Produce Russian Covid-19 Vaccine.
Italy has signed an agreement with Russia to launch the production of the Sputnik V vaccine, with first batches expected to come out of an Italian plant as early as June- this would make it the first EU nation to produce the jab.
The deal was signed between the Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funds the production and distribution of Sputnik V, and Italy’s Adienne Srl company, the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce (CCIR), which facilitated the negotiations, said in a statement today, Monday, March 8.
Adienne Srl is located in the northern Italian province of Monza and Brianza and is part of a major Swiss group, Adienne Pharma & Biotech. The company was the first to propose signing the strategic cooperation deal with the RDIF, and the talks continued for several months after that, CCIR said.
“This step will help solve the problem of the shortage of vaccine doses in Italy,” the statement added. Italy was one of the world’s hardest-hit countries at the start of the pandemic a year ago and has seen more than 3 million confirmed cases and almost 100,000 deaths related to Covid-19.
The first EU-made vials of Sputnik V could be available in June 2021, with plans to make 10 million doses by the end of the year, according to the statement. The production process of the vaccine will be controlled by the Italian side.
“The agreement is the first of its kind with a European partner” for RDIF, proving that Italian companies “can overlook political differences” with Russia, Vincenzo Trani, CCIR president, has said.
Italy’s Covid crisis
Italy has surpassed 100,000 deaths in the pandemic, a year after it became the first country in Europe to go into lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19. The Italian Health Ministry on Monday said 318 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 100,103, the second-highest in Europe after Britain.
Italy recorded its first virus death on February 21 2020, when 78-year-old retired roofer Antonio Trevisan, from a winemaking town west of Venice who had been admitted to hospital with heart issues, died.
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