Vladimir Putin Hasn’t Taken the COVID19 Vaccine Yet

Source: Vox

Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t been vaccinated against the coronavirus yet, months after he announced his country’s Sputnik V as the “world’s first” approved Covid-19 vaccine and said his own daughter had taken it.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Putin cannot get a vaccine that has not yet finished the final stage of trials, even though the vaccine has already been given to some Russian frontline health care workers, teachers and several top level officials outside the clinical trials. “The President cannot use an uncertified vaccine,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a call with reporters. Peskov did not explain the difference between the vaccine being “certified” and “approved,” but said: “Mass vaccination has not started yet. And, of course, the head of state cannot take part in vaccination as a volunteer. It’s impossible.”

The news that Putin hasn’t taken the vaccine yet came on the same day that Sputnik V’s developers published new information about the vaccine, touting it as effective, cheap and easy to transport. The Gamaelya institute, which is developing the vaccine, in a news release said that analysis of data obtained 28 days after the first dose and seven days after the second dose suggests the Sputnik vaccine was 91.4% effective in preventing infections.