The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Venezuela, Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov, participated on Monday as the first volunteer in the trials of EpicVacCorona vaccine, the second vaccine manufactured by Russia as part of the fight to immunize the world’s population against COVID-19.
“I’m very glad and honored to be here because this is the second Russian vaccine in development. It is called EpicVacCorona. It was handed over to Venezuela one month ago on the visit of Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov,” said the Russian diplomat at the Venezuelan Executive Vice-president’s Office in Caracas.
This second Russian vaccine was presented to the Ministry of People’s Power for Health as part of the health cooperation program to assess its effectiveness in the Venezuelan population.
In this regard, Melik-Bagdasarov said that this vaccine will be produced starting June by the Vector Institute, which is widely known in Venezuela for supplying insulin.
The Russian diplomat highlighted that Venezuela was the first country to recognize the Sputnik V vaccine, and now this one. “My intention by participating in these trials as a personal decision is to show the high level of confidence between the two nations,” he said.
Finally, the diplomat thanked the Venezuelan Government for facilitating the vaccination of the embassy’s personnel accredited to the country.
“We are prudent and confident with trials and confirmations of effectivity. It’s not a blind confidence. It’s an example of our absolute solidarity,” he stressed.