Sputnik developer becomes head of Russia's top vaccine centre

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A scientist who developed Russia's Sputnik coronavirus vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic has been appointed head of Moscow's Gamaleya research centre, the centre said in a statement on Monday.

The statement said that Denis Logunov, 47, will replace Alexander Gintsburg as director of the centre, Russia's leading institution for vaccine research, named after Russian-Soviet scientist Nikolai Gamaleya.

Logunov led the group of scientists who created and tested Sputnik, which was then widely used for COVID-19 vaccination in Russia and other countries, including Argentina, Mexico, Hungary and Serbia.

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)