OREANDA-NEWS. The World Health Organization registration process for Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is progressing well, Melita Vujnovic, WHO representative in Russia, said at a briefing on Tuesday.

"The process is going according to the roadmap, these are agreements between the Russian Direct Investment Fund on the provision of documents and the steps that the World Health Organization is taking. We will not voice any forecast now, but we can say: so far everything is going well," Vujnovich said. 

She also said that the updated plan for sites for the production of the pharmaceutical substance or medicinal product was submitted by the Russian side on December 17, 2021 and is also currently under consideration in preparation for inspections of all production sites.

"Inspections (by WHO representatives) on the ground are scheduled after this process, and while the process is ongoing, the details should remain confidential. This is normal practice," the WHO representative said.

Sputnik V has been approved in 71 countries with a total population of 4 billion people, more than 50% of the world's population. In terms of the number of approvals received by state regulators, Sputnik V ranks second in the world. The effectiveness of the vaccine was 97.6% based on the analysis of data from 3.8 million vaccinated Russians.