Russia delivers HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of vaccine doses to Syria as part of massive aid package Defense Ministry

The Russian military has delivered 250,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik Light vaccine to Damascus along with Covid-19 tests and tons of humanitarian goods as part of the Defense Ministry’s humanitarian aid initiative.

Doses of the one-shot vaccine and 1 million PCR Covid-19 tests were handed over to the Syrian authorities, the Russian Defense Ministry said. They were flown to Syria on the Il-76 military transport aircraft in special thermal containers ensuring all the necessary storage conditions are met.

The Defense Ministry also published a video of the medical goods being loaded onto the plane in Moscow. Russian soldiers can be seen moving special white containers inside the hull. Each container acts as a freezer and contains 10,000 vaccine doses.

The decision to send the vaccines and tests to Syria was made by President Vladimir Putin upon the initiative of Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. A Russian interdepartmental task force arrived in Damascus along with the humanitarian aid package.

The group led by Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the National Defense Management Center â€" Russia’s top command and control center â€" is tasked with helping the Syrian authorities streamline their efforts in facilitating the return of Syrian refugees, rebuilding the country, and modernizing outdated technology.

Russia will send similar aid packages on a regular basis, Mizintsev said. The aid also includes around 160 tons of food, drugs, equipment, and various other cargo.

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The one-shot Sputnik Light vaccine is a lighter version of Russia’s pioneering Sputnik V, which was also developed by the nation’s Gamaleya Institute. It was registered by the Russian Health Ministry in late March.

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