"One of our three vaccines": Putin will be vaccinated against COVID-19 on March 23

On Tuesday, March 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin will get himself vaccinated against coronavirus infection.

The head of state announced this during a meeting on increasing vaccine production and vaccination against COVID-19 in Russia.

“Vaccination is, of course, a voluntary choice of each person, a personal decision of each person.

By the way, I intend to do it myself tomorrow, ”Putin said.

He added that the vaccines developed in Russia against COVID-19 are safe and effective, and similar foreign drugs cannot boast the same high degree of protection.

In turn, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Putin will inoculate one of the three domestic vaccines that have already been registered in the country.

We are talking about the "Sputnik V" developed at the Gamaleya Research Center for Electrochemistry, the EpiVacCorona vaccine from the Novosibirsk Vector Center of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare, and the KoviVac drug created by the V.

M.P. Chumakova.

“All are good and reliable,” Peskov remarked.

Moreover, on the day of vaccination, according to a Kremlin spokesman, Putin "will work."

Recall that the question of when the head of state will be vaccinated against the coronavirus was raised during a large press conference.

Then Vladimir Putin indicated that he will be vaccinated when it becomes possible for his age group.

“Experts tell us that the vaccines that are being circulated today are provided for citizens in a certain age zone, and vaccines have not yet reached people like me,” the president said.

After the Ministry of Health approved the use of Sputnik V for people over 60 years old, Dmitry Peskov announced that Vladimir Putin plans to be vaccinated against coronavirus "in the foreseeable future."

The situation with COVID-19 in Russia

During the meeting, the head of state expressed gratitude to the employees of the entire healthcare system, in particular, research institutions, since thanks to their effective work, the situation with the spread of coronavirus infection in Russia is stabilizing.

Vladimir Putin noted that in Russia 6.3 million people have already been vaccinated with the first component of the COVID-19 vaccine, of which 4.3 million Russians have completed the vaccination process, having received both components.

At the same time, he pointed to the "extreme importance" of increasing the rate of vaccination in Russia, stressing that the whole process "should be as accessible and convenient as possible" for citizens, especially older people: "We need to achieve this goal at all costs, to achieve so that collective immunity was created in our country ”.

As noted by Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, collective immunity in Russia can be formed by July or August.

“It is estimated that in order to fully stabilize the situation, at least 60% of the country's adult population should be vaccinated.

This will require 69.8 million vaccine dose kits.

We have all the opportunities and resources to manufacture such volumes, ”Putin said.

- 8.9 million complete sets of the Sputnik V vaccine and more than 115 thousand sets of EpiVacCorona have already been put into civil circulation.

The President of Russia also addressed the meeting participants, stressing that for the authorities, vaccination of the country's population, protection of people "from this infection" is the number one task.

At the end of the meeting, Vladimir Putin instructed to prepare proposals for state awards and material incentives for all Russian scientists who worked on the creation of vaccines against coronavirus.

“We cannot show everyone now, it’s just technologically very difficult, but I want to thank all the employees of all our scientific centers, who worked on solving this problem and successfully solved it, on my behalf, and on behalf of all our people, from all citizens” , - he stated.

New research

During the meeting, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F. Gamaleya, said that various modifications of the Sputnik V vaccine were being developed, which would be aimed at various groups of the population.

In particular, by the end of 2021, NICEM named after Gamaleya plans to complete tests of "Sputnik V" in the form of nasal drops.

This form of the drug will be intended for young children (up to 3-4 years).

According to him, the first results indicate that the intranasal form is "completely devoid of side effects."

In addition, the study of the single-component vaccine "Sputnik Light" among children will begin after registration for use among adults: "Vaccination of the child population is also a problem that will soon arise or has already faced each country and the world community."

Gunzburg also noted what goals the developers pursue when creating Sputnik Light.

This drug is not intended to replace Sputnik V.

"It (" Sputnik Light "-

RT

) is actually being created for the rapid vaccination of the population, and also makes it possible to use the drug to vaccinate those who have been ill who already have a certain immunity to COVID-19, but it needs to be raised," said the director of NICEM. ...

Gamalei.

In turn, the chairman of the board of directors of the pharmaceutical company "R-Pharm" Alexey Repik expects that "Sputnik Light" will go into civil circulation in April-May.

At the same time, the SSC VB Vector is also developing an intranasal form of the EpiVacCorona vaccine, said Alexander Ryzhikov, head of the center's department of zoonotic infections and influenza.

Attitude towards the Russian vaccine abroad

The success of Russian scientists and specialists has been recognized abroad, Vladimir Putin said.

He stressed that, despite the deliberate discrediting and informational stuffing, the geography of the Sputnik V vaccine is actively growing.

“More and more countries around the world are showing interest in our vaccine.

55 countries have already issued permits for its use on their territory, the President emphasized.

"So these are 55 countries with a total of 1.4 billion people."

In addition, the head of state said that negative statements by representatives of the European Union regarding the Russian vaccine make one think that officials defend the interests of individual companies, and not EU citizens.

“But it is surprising that right before our meeting, as I was informed, right now one of the responsible officials of the European Commission said that, as he said,“ we do not need Sputnik V ”.

A strange statement.

We do not impose anything on anyone, ”Putin stressed.

Against this background, the Kremlin press service reported that during a telephone conversation with President of the European Council Charles Michel, Vladimir Putin discussed the possibility of using Sputnik V.

In addition, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said that one of the American companies may have violated patent rights for the development of the Gamaleya Center.

“We have notified this company, we want to start a dialogue.

We will not ask them for any funds at the time of a pandemic, but, of course, we will take seriously the protection of our intellectual rights, ”explained the head of the RDIF.