As New Covid-19 Cases Hit New Record in Russia, Putin Pushes For Mass Vaccination

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s authorities to begin a large-scale voluntary vaccination program against Covid-19 across Russia as early as next week. Teachers and medical workers would be first in line to get the country’s Sputnik V vaccine.

Addressing the opening ceremony of multifunctional medical centers of the Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday, President Putin mentioned that around two million Sputnik V vaccine doses have already been produced, giving the country a head start.

"This gives us an opportunity if not to begin mass inoculation, then at least to roll it out on a large scale," TASS quoted Putin as saying during the video conference.

Russia has the fourth-highest number of confirmed Covid-19 infections worldwide behind the United States, India and Brazil, while the number of cases continues to rise. Russia confirmed a record 28,145 new daily Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 2,375,546. On the same day, Russia’s health officials said 554 more deaths were confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 41,607. Russia has the world’s 10th-highest coronavirus death toll.

"If you think that we came close to this step, I would like to ask you to organize the work in such a way that by the end of next week we could already begin this large-scale vaccination," Putin said to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko announced that more than 100,000 Russians at higher risk of severe coronavirus cases have already been vaccinated with the domestically made Sputnik V vaccine.

"We have started vaccinating high-risk groups. To date, more than 100,000 Russian citizens have been vaccinated," Interfax quoted Murashko as saying at the United Nations General Assembly session.

According to Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funds and markets Sputnik V, the two-dose shot will cost less than $10 per dose. 

Russia was the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine in August despite Sputnik V's incomplete clinical trials. Russia's vaccine appears to work well, as the Russian researchers making Sputnik V stated a few weeks ago that interim results of the vaccine showed 92% efficacy, 2% more than its main rival American-made Pfizer.

Developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology under the Russian Health Ministry, Russia's first vaccine, named Sputnik-V, bears the same name as the world's first satellite launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union during the space race. The name signifies the country's success in being the first nation to have an approved vaccine.

As for now, two domestically-developed anti-coronavirus vaccines have been registered in Russia. Along with Sputnik V, another one, developed by the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is expected to be registered soon.