Russia and U.S. discuss COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan have held a working meeting to discuss the novel coronavirus pandemic and efforts to develop a vaccine against the disease, the Russian Health Ministry’s press service said.

The sides discussed the novel coronavirus infection’s spread in Russia and the United States, peculiarities of the situation in certain regions of the two countries and issues of providing timely and professional assistance to novel coronavirus patients.

The Russian health minister suggested holding a video conference of experts from the two states to share experience, TASS reported.

The sides also discussed the development of novel coronavirus vaccines and other medicines to prevent and treat infectious diseases in Russia and the United States.

"Although the novel coronavirus mortality in Russia is low, every human life matters to us, and we would like to increase our knowledge to make those figures even lower," the statement quoted Murashko as saying.

The sides also thanked each other for humanitarian assistance. In April, Russia sent a batch of medical goods to the U.S., and afterwards, the U.S. delivered a batch of 200 ventilators to Russia.

"The U.S. ambassador expressed his gratitude to the Russian side for providing medical equipment at the initial stages of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the United States. <...> Mikhail Murashko, in turn, thanked the American colleagues for the batch of lung ventilators, which had been donated to Russia and will be used in Russian regions," the statement says.