With the recent buzz around developing a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus, Russia has successfully fast-tracked its recently launched Sputnik V vaccine. Following that, it is most likely to release the vaccine for civilian use this week, according to a report.

Sputnik V Covid vaccine, which is developed by Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology under the Russian Health Ministry, may be granted permission to release a batch of its vaccine for civilian use, the institute’s deputy director for research, said associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Denis Logunov, according to a report.

“Its examination is to begin within days. Also, within days we are to obtain permission. There is a certain procedure of authorizing a batch for civilian use. It must pass the quality check of the medical watchdog Roszdravnadzor. Within days, between September 10 and 13, we are to obtain permission to release a batch of the vaccine for civilian use. Respectively, from that moment on the population will begin to be vaccinated,” he said on the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television news channel, reported Russian news agency TASS.

The vaccine’s distribution will be under the Health Ministry’s purview.

Meanwhile, three Moscow outpatient clinics have received the first batch of a covid vaccine against the coronavirus for post-registration trials, news agency TASS reported, citing Deputy Moscow Mayor Anastasia Rakova. Moscow residents can apply to participate in the study and be the first to obtain the vaccine, the deputy mayor said.

The study is part of post-registration clinical trials of the vaccine against COVID-19 in which 40,000 people are expected to participate. Russia announced last month that its vaccine had already received approval, even though Russia’s health ministry said clinical trials were not yet complete.

Recently, early tests of the Russian coronavirus vaccine showed encouraging results when details were published on Friday.

In the Lancet study, Russian researchers reported on two small trials, each involving 38 healthy adults aged between 18 and 60, who were given a two-part immunisation.

The report said the data showed that the vaccine was “safe, well tolerated, and does not cause serious adverse events in healthy adult volunteers”.

Russia has said that industrial production of its version of vaccine is expected from this month.

Top Russian leaders, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, have been already inoculated with the country’s covid vaccine, Sputnik News reported.