The Bangladesh government has approved the use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine under emergency use authorization (EUA).

India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and many other countries have already approved the emergency use authorization (EUA) of Sputnik V.

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Informing this on Wednesday, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) said Bangladesh directorate general of drug administration (DGDA) has approved the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus.

“The vaccine has been registered under the emergency use authorization procedure (EUA). Bangladesh has become the 62-nd country to authorize the use of Sputnik V. Total population of the countries where Sputnik V is approved for use is 3.2 billion people,” the RDIF said in a statement.

Post-vaccination studies in a number of countries demonstrate that Sputnik V is the safest and most effective vaccine against coronavirus. Sputnik V ranks second among coronavirus vaccines globally in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators.

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Sputnik V has also been approved in Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia, Armenia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Republika Srpska (entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bahrain, Montenegro, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Kazakhstan.

The vaccine has also been approved by Uzbekistan, Gabon, San-Marino, Ghana, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Guyana, Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala, Moldova, Slovakia, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Laos, Iraq, North Macedonia, Kenya, Morocco, Jordan, Namibia, Azerbaijan, Philippines, Cameroon, Seychelles, Mauritius, Vietnam, Antigua and Barbuda, Mali, Panama, India and Nepal.

“Bangladesh is one of the most populated countries in Asia and with the help of Sputnik V many lives will be saved in the country,” said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

“Diversification of the national vaccine portfolio through registration of Sputnik V provides people of Bangladesh with access to one of the best vaccines against coronavirus in the world, which has been approved in over 60 countries,” Dmitriev added.

Sputnik V has an efficacy of 97.6 percent based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from December 5, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.

Sputnik V uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.