Despite euphoric reports from the Russian leadership about the success of its own coronavirus vaccine “Sputnik V”, comparatively few people in the country are still vaccinated.
So far, around 2.2 million Russians have received at least one of two necessary injections of the drug, said a representative of the state-run Gamaleja research center that developed the drug, according to the Interfax agency. That corresponds to about 1.5 percent of the population of the gigantic empire. Almost 145 million people live in Russia.
This puts Russia far behind in an international comparison of developed countries – especially in comparison with countries that also produce vaccines. Russia is also being accused of not working transparently with numbers.
Putin lobt “Sputnik V”
The statistics office recently published CoV death numbers for 2020, which are more than twice as high as stated by the government. Russia had recently relaxed various CoV restrictions. According to official statistics, the number of reported new infections per day was almost 14,500 today, the lowest it has been since mid-October.
President Vladimir Putin praised “Sputnik V” as the best vaccine in the world and certified Russia as “leading positions in the world” due to a total of three of its own vaccines. The start of mass vaccinations was announced back in December. But surveys show that many Russians are skeptical – also because the Kremlin boss has not yet had himself vaccinated. There are also reports of production difficulties.
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