Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t rely on a coronavirus vaccine prematurely, according to a senior adviser who emphasized the importance of ongoing studies.
“The president cannot use an uncertified vaccine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmity Peskov noted, according to TASS, a state-run media outlet. “All the procedures are about to conclude, and then, if he finds it necessary, he will inform you.”
That caution belies Putin’s jubilance in August when he declared that Russian researchers had developed a vaccine — adding that his own daughter was participating in the clinical trials. The Russian leader has boasted of his willingness to “personally take the Russian vaccine” before traveling abroad, but Peskov tapped the brakes on that idea.
“We haven’t started mass vaccination yet,” he said. “And, of course, the head of state cannot take part in vaccination as a volunteer.”
Russian researchers nonetheless maintained that two doses of the vaccine has produced “an efficacy of the vaccine above 95 percent,” according to the Moscow Times. “We expect the efficacy rate to be even higher based on the data three weeks after the second immunization when the body’s strongest and most stable response is achieved,” Gamaleya Center Director Alexander Gintsburg said Tuesday.
Putin’s refusal to be an early adopter of the vaccine aligns with the skepticism that U.S. officials displayed for his initial declaration of victory.
“They effectively skipped over two very fundamental parts of the development of the vaccine to confidently trust what the people need,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said in August. “Why did they decide to do that other than to declare victory early? I’m not sure.”
