OREANDA-NEWS. A special board of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia will deliver about 30 thousand doses of the domestic vaccine against the coronavirus "Sputnik Light" to Laos as humanitarian aid. This is stated on the agency's website.

The initiator of such a tranche, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, was the leadership of Laos: it was they who asked the Russian authorities for a batch of the drug from COVID-19. The Russian government supported the request of the Lao authorities.

"The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has sent about 30 thousand doses of Sputnik Light vaccine kits as humanitarian aid. The assistance was provided as part of the fight against a new coronavirus infection," the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said.

In July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke about possible humanitarian supplies of the vaccine to this country, but then it was about another drug — Sputnik V. The vaccine was planned to be mainly supplied on a commercial basis, but some of the supplies, Lavrov admitted, could also be sent as humanitarian aid. Sputnik V was registered in Laos in March 2021.

In August, Moscow delivered 50 thousand doses of Sputnik V to Dushanbe as humanitarian aid, the Russian Embassy in Tajikistan reported.

In May and June of this year, Russia brought 25 thousand doses of Sputnik V to Angola as humanitarian aid. The campaign was conducted under the auspices of the Russian Embassy in Angola and the company "ALROSA", which is engaged in diamond mining.

The head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, previously said that Sputnik Light is identical to the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine, but it cannot be used as an alternative, since it was created for other purposes. According to him, Sputnik V is designed to form a stable immunity, and it can be effectively used among patients who have reached the age of 60.

"Sputnik Light", according to Murashko, is needed for the rapid formation of population immunity, if the epidemiological process develops unfavorably. Both vaccines were developed by the Gamaleya Moscow Center.

According to the Ministry of Health of Laos on September 21, since the beginning of the pandemic, 19.4 thousand cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed in the country.