Putin receives the vaccine, out of sight of the cameras

Russian President Vladimir Putin received the Covid-19 vaccine, in part to encourage Russians who are fiercely hesitant to get a dose.

Although he was previously photographed on horseback, snowboarding and flying with Siberian cranes, he opted to vaccinate behind closed doors.

The Kremlin did not specify what type of vaccine Putin received.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the goal was to confirm that “the three Russian vaccines are completely reliable, very good and effective.”

Peskov, in a statement to the BBC, ignored the idea that offering the dose to Putin would help persuade the skeptical majority of Russians to do the same.

As for believing Putin would get the vaccine, he said people just “have to take our word for it.”

As a result, there is likely to be a limited increase in the slow frequency of vaccination.

The Kremlin says Putin has now been vaccinated, in order to obtain the “necessary level of immunity” to return to travel and work, before the autumn parliamentary elections.

Big plans, little interest

The president’s daughter participated in the Sputnik vaccine safety tests, but Putin himself seemed strangely cautious as he strongly recommends others to obtain it.

Putin, 68, initially said he waited until it was deemed safe for people over 65. He later said that he would look forward to the fall when his doctors could insert a dose of COVID-19 into his “vaccination schedule.”

Putin also told a group of Russian news editors that he would not be a “smug monkey” to receive the vaccine in front of television cameras, surprising many with his sudden camera shyness.

On Monday, Putin revealed that 6.3 million Russians have so far received a single dose of the Covid vaccine since he became the first world leader to announce a “large-scale” vaccination in December. This represents only about 5% of the adult population.

Its goal is to protect 60% of adults by July, which is enough for “herd immunity” to halt the spread of the virus. But this would require increasing the current vaccination rate from just a few thousand to more than 700,000 per day, and that’s just one dose of the vaccine.

Although Russia is promoting the Sputnik vaccine as the first and best in the world, the benefit in the country is low and dwindling.

A Levada-Center poll indicates that the number of Russians who oppose receiving it rose to 62% in February, with most citing concerns about possible side effects even though Sputnik has been shown to be 92% safe and effective in trials.

Many also argue that there is no urgent need for protection. There has been no lockdown in Russia since spring 2020, and the number of new infections is currently declining, with the number of deaths from Covid 19 barely mentioned.

The daily number has reached 95,818 injured, although the number of excess deaths recorded so far is four times higher.

Global ambition

Meanwhile, enthusiasm for the Russian vaccine is growing abroad.

On Tuesday, Vietnam became the 56th country to register Sputnik, and Russia says it has concluded deals to supply 700 million doses of the vaccine abroad.

But it is unclear when this demand can be met.

Russia plans to transfer production technology abroad, but a Sputnik backer, Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, will not answer questions about any current supply of off-site facilities or its goals.

And in a call with scientists and producers on Monday, President Putin praised their achievements with three Russian vaccines now registered for emergency use, including Epivac Corona and KofiVac.

A batch of a new version of Sputnik that does not need to be frozen has just been distributed and experiments with single-dose Sputnik Lite have been completed.

But increasing production proved difficult.

Total vaccine production will rise to 12.5 million two-dose “units” in March, according to the Industry Ministry, with an additional five million units added in April.

However, there were reports of shortages in some regions of Russia.

And a clinic visited by the BBC this month in Perm, admitted that the stock of the first dose of Sputnik had been exhausted and did not wait for more for several days.