Mikhail Mishustin: “In order to begin mass vaccination as soon as possible, well-managed coordination of action is necessary at all levels – from developers and scientists to manufacturers and suppliers.”
Meeting with coronavirus vaccine manufacturers
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
Today we and vaccine producers will discuss the situation around the production of a vaccine to prevent the novel coronavirus infection and the measures required to begin a mass vaccination campaign.
We have already met with you. Our colleagues in the Government, the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have been actively working on this issue.
The situation remains difficult, so the faster high-quality and effective vaccines are provided to people, the sooner we will see improvements.
Other countries also are showing interest in Russian-made vaccines. Our priority at the first stage is, of course, to provide our citizens, Russians, with the new vaccines. All people in all regions of our country should have the opportunity to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Vaccination will be voluntary, of course. Nobody will be forced to do it.
As of now, there are two registered vaccines in Russia, one by the Gamaleya National Centre, and the other by the Vector Research Centre. It is necessary to organise their production in sufficient volumes.
The Gamaleya Centre’s vaccine is in production at several sites, and there will be more to come. Today we will discuss what we need to do to expand that list, what additional decisions need to be taken.
In order to begin mass vaccination as soon as possible, well-managed coordination of action is necessary at all levels – from developers and scientists to manufacturers and suppliers.
At our request, a special working group has been created at the Gamaleya Centre in order to scale up production and make relevant decisions. This is a complex task. It is important that Russian manufacturers are provided with all the necessary raw materials, reagents. Both the quality of the vaccine, and most importantly, the delivery time depend on it.
Colleagues, I want to emphasise that the price of the vaccine must stay at an acceptable level for mass vaccination. The President has repeatedly pointed that out.
It is also necessary to make sure that Russian regions and their medical facilities are ready to accept and store the vaccine. Each region must have the necessary equipment such as insulated containers, icepack freezers to transport it along the entire chain, from the manufacturer to medical facilities. The group must thoroughly work out these issues.
