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“I ask you to start a mass vaccination of the entire population next week,” Putin told officials during a government meeting. “The Russian vaccine is the best in the world.”
In August, Russia registered the world’s first vaccine against the Sputnik V coronavirus, but it did so before launching large-scale clinical trials.
Western experts and some Russians have raised concerns about the excessive urgency of developing the vaccine, and critics have described it as a means of increasing Russia’s geopolitical influence.
“Thank God, our vaccine does not require special transport conditions,” Putin said.
“It is much simpler and more effective,” he added, comparing the Russian vaccine with vaccines manufactured in the West.
According to Putin, Russia must “prepare the appropriate infrastructure” to increase vaccine production.
Moscow, by offering its vaccine to other countries, advertises it as cheaper and easier to transport than other drugs.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova told Putin at the meeting that Russia is ready to begin mass vaccination starting Monday.
Vaccination with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in the country began in early December, although the drug was still in the third stage of clinical trials.
The country has been hit hard by a second wave of coronavirus infection in recent months, but the Kremlin has refrained from the austerity measures imposed at the start of the pandemic.
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