Vladimir Putin may soon receive Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin will receive the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine soon, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Russian scientists have developed the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine and Putin had earlier backed the drug for mass use in his country, following which vaccination drive in Moscow began this month. Peskov, while speaking to state-owned Russia 1 TV, said that Putin has decided to take the vaccine and is waiting for the formalities to be completed. 

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Putin had given a green light to the Sputnik V vaccine back in August, making it the first vaccine in the world to get government approval. While approving the vaccine earlier this year, Putin had claimed that even his daughter received a trial shot of the vaccine, which experts said was probably to build confidence regarding the safety of the drug. Many questions were raised by the international community regarding the safety of Sputnik V due to the lack of trial data provided by Russia. 

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Russia announced to conduct a mass trial in October in order to ward off all the concerns surrounding the vaccine. Then in December, Putin directed his government to start a mass vaccination campaign in Moscow, prioritising high-risk groups. Children, pregnant women, people with pre-existing medical conditions have been left out of the programme due to the non-availability of data to determine how the vaccine will react to them. 

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Other leaders who have been vaccinated

If Russian President Vladimir Putin receives the vaccine, he will become one of the several world leaders to do so since the approval of multiple drugs across the world began this month. Earlier, US President-elect Joe Biden and incoming First Lady Jill Biden, US Vice-President Mike Pence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have all taken the vaccine jab live on television in order to build confidence among the members of the public regarding the safety of anti-COVID-19 shots.   

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