The Algerian government on Wednesday announced it will begin rolling out the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine developed by Russia in January, reported The TASS.
Communications Minister Ammar Belhimer said the country had signed a mutual agreement with a Russian laboratory for the acquisition of the coronavirus vaccine from January.
In an interview with local broadcaster Echorouk, the finance ministry director-general Abdelaziz Fayed said Algerian authorities will receive an initial shipment of 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Abderrahmane Benbouzid had announced that the recommended coronavirus vaccine will be free for all in the country and it will not be compulsory.
Russia had announced the registration of Sputnik V in August after it had completed the second phase of trials on only 100 volunteers. Scientists at home and abroad had raised concern on the vaccine registration saying that the decision was premature without wider clinical trials and the publication of scientific results.
But Moscow continued and began its own vaccination campaign on December 5, beginning with at-risk workers.
Algeria has recorded nearly 100,000 COVID-19 infections and more than 2,750 deaths from the disease so far, according to the Algerian health ministry.
The announcement came a day after the president of the North African nation, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, returned home after two months in a German hospital being treated for COVID-19.
Tebboune flew to Germany in October after saying he was self-isolating because aides had tested positive for the coronavirus. The last time the president appeared before the public was in December when in a brief video clip he said he had recovered.
His absence fuelled speculation that he would be unable to finish a presidential term that began a year ago with his election during a period of mass protests against the ruling elite. The weekly demonstrations that led to the overthrow of the old ruling elite and the army’s withdrawal from politics, stopped in March when Algeria imposed a lockdown because of COVID-19.
