Algeria on Saturday started the COVID inoculation drive in the country with Russia's Sputnik-V vaccine, which is a two-dose regimen administered 21 days apart.

Iran Press/Africa: Algeria uses the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine when it will launch mass vaccination of its population scheduled for January 2021, TSA news portal reports, citing the decision made by the Algerian government following a meeting on Wednesday chaired by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad.As Tass reported.

"The Algerian health minister has announced the signing of an agreement with a Russian laboratory to purchase the coronavirus vaccine to start vaccination in January," a spokesperson for the cabinet Ammar Belhimer noted. According to him, the Pasteur Institute of Algeria "carried out consultations with the Russian producer of the Sputnik V vaccine, while simultaneously continuing consultations with other foreign parties."

On December 20, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune instructed Djerad to pick a vaccine to launch mass vaccination already in January.

According to the latest report of the Algerian Ministry of Health, the number of people infected with the coronavirus in this country has reached 107 thousand, of which 2,900 people have lost their lives.

Sputnik V is Russia's first Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Gamelia Virology Center of the Ministry of Health in Moscow, and its letter (v) after Sputnik stands for the first letter of the English word 'victory'.

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