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(CNN) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, months after he announced his country’s Sputnik V as the “world’s first vaccine” approved against COVID-19 and said his own daughter had taken it.
The Kremlin said Tuesday that Putin cannot receive a vaccine that has not yet completed the final stage of trials, despite the fact that the coup has already been applied to some front-line Russian health care workers, teachers and various officials from the high level outside of clinical trials.
“The president cannot use an uncertified vaccine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a call with reporters. Peskov did not explain the difference between the vaccine being “certified” and “approved”, but said: “The mass vaccination has not yet started. And, of course, the head of state cannot participate in the vaccination as a volunteer. It is impossible “. “
Peskov said the trials should be completed soon and Putin would inform people of his decision on whether to take the vaccine “if he deems it necessary.”
The news that Putin has yet to take the vaccine came on the same day that Sputnik V developers released new information about the vaccine, touting it as effective, cheap and easy to transport.
The Gamaelya institute, which is developing the vaccine, and Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funds it, reported more interim data on the vaccine on Tuesday. In a press release, they said that analysis of data obtained 28 days after the first dose and seven days after the second dose suggests that the Sputnik vaccine was 91.4% effective in preventing infections.
The statement said the researchers identified 39 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among the volunteers: 31 in the placebo group and eight among those who received the vaccine. He added that 18,794 volunteers participated in the study.
Pfizer and Moderna reported similar efficacy rates: 94.5% for Moderna and 95% for Pfizer. However, their claims were based on larger clinical trials. Moderna reported 95 cases of Covid-19 among its volunteers, 90 in the placebo group and 5 in the vaccinated cohort, while Pfizer reported 170 cases, 162 in the placebo group and eight in the participants who received the vaccine.
AstraZeneca announced Monday that its experimental coronavirus vaccine has shown an average efficacy of 70%. He said that a total of 131 study participants developed Covid-19, but did not say how many of those people had received the Covid-19 vaccine and how many had not.
In a separate statement, the Gamaelya institute and the RDIF said that a dose of the vaccine would cost less than $ 10 in international markets, saying it was “two or more times cheaper than mRNA vaccines with similar levels of efficacy.” . The two-dose vaccine and vaccination will be free for Russian citizens, the statement added. The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are mRNA vaccines.
In Tuesday’s statement, Russia also said that the Sputnik vaccine can be stored at a temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, which is similar to what AstraZeneca said about its vaccine on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine should be kept at around -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit) while in transit. Moderna said her vaccine can be kept in freezers normally available at pharmacies and in a refrigerator for 30 days.
Putin first announced that Russia’s vaccine was approved for public use in August, even though at the time it had been tested on only several dozen subjects in an unblinded study. The announcement came before the start of phase 3 trials, which are key to establishing their safety and efficacy, and generated skepticism in the international community.
“I know it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity,” Putin said at the time, adding that one of his daughters had already taken the hit – a rare move by the president, who is notoriously reserved with his family. He said he had a slightly higher temperature after each dose, but added that “now he feels fine.”
Putin, at 68, is in a high-risk group. Vaccine trials for the first group of volunteers aged 60 and over began on October 28, according to Russia’s new state agency TASS.
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