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Russia pushes COVID-19 vaccine in Egypt

Moscow is busily promoting its COVID-19 vaccine in Egypt, which it hopes to recruit for testing and production purposes.
A vial with Russia's new coronavirus vaccine is seen prior to a vaccination of a volunteer in a post-registration trials, Moscow, September 10, 2020. - Russia announced last month that its vaccine, named "Sputnik V" after the Soviet-era satellite that was the first launched into space in 1957, had already received approval. The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya research institute in Moscow in coordination with the Russian defence ministry. (Photo by Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP) (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKO

CAIRO — Russian diplomats have been busy in Cairo, meeting with Egyptian officials and the local media to promote the so-called Sputnik V, a vaccine developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute — even though clinical trials have not been completed on the drug, and the Chinese seem to be spearheading the race for an agreement with Egypt.

Following only two months of testing, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin approved the drug in mid-August and the country began to market the medication as “Sputnik V, the first registered vaccine against COVID-19.” 

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