NUR-SULTAN, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan and Russia have signed an agreement on the procurement of a Russian-made vaccine against COVID-19, the office of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan said in a statement Wednesday.
The deal, signed between Kazakh state pharmaceutical distributor SK-Pharmacy and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, guarantees that Russia's Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology will produce a certain volume of the "Sputnik V" vaccine specifically for the Central Asian nation.
According to the statement, the vaccine would be available to at-risk Kazakh citizens on a free and voluntary basis and only after the vaccine has passed all stages of clinical trials.
The agreement was signed when a Kazakh governmental delegation paid a working visit to Moscow, during which Kazakh Health Minister Alexey Tsoi and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Murashko discussed cooperation on the fight against the coronavirus.
Russia announced the registration of the world's first COVID-19 vaccine, dubbed "Sputnik V" on Aug.11. Its phase 3 trial, which involves 2,000 volunteers, is underway.
Kazakhstan recorded 105,075 confirmed cases as of Wednesday, with 93,990 recoveries and 1,544 deaths. In August, the country also registered 23,543 COVID-19 cases and 268 related deaths. Enditem
