Donetsk, Mar 30 - DAN. More than 6,000 education sector personnel in the Donetsk People’s Republic have got the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, the DPR Education and Science Ministry said on Tuesday.

“Overall, more than 6,000 people in the education sector have been vaccinated,” the Ministry said. “Teachers take this issue very seriously as they feel their responsibility not only towards themselves and their families, but also towards those whom they teach, their colleagues and other persons they have to communicate with due to their profession.”

Donetsk National Technical University Rector Alexander Anopriyenko got his vaccine, too. On Monday, Anopriyenko had the second dose of the Russian-made Sputnik V.

“University staff realise the importance of vaccination; the Russian vaccine is excellent and free of charge,” the rector said. “The university will mark its centenary soon; we’re looking forward to the jubilee and we certainly want to be well-protected as we see it. We hope that everybody who has no contraindications, will get their vaccines in the near future. Students are waiting for this opportunity, too.”

The DPR launched vaccination using Sputnik V on February 1, 2021. DPR Head Denis Pushilin earlier said that about one million DPR residents would have been vaccinated by the end of this year.

Russia began to produce a COVID-19 vaccine last summer. It was registered on August 11, 2020, the first in the world. The vaccine, Sputnik V, was developed by the Russian Health Ministry’s Gamaleya Research Centre.*jk