MOSCOW, March 30./TASS/. President Vladimir Putin’s inoculation against COVID-19 will encourage Russian nationals to also get the jab, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested on Tuesday.
"Of course, I think his example will give the process a boost," the spokesman said in an interview published in Tuesday’s issue of the Argumenty I Fakty newspaper.
Many in the country are reluctant towards inoculations. "As to why people are not in a hurry to get vaccinated, I think these are our specific national characteristics. We still have a lot of people who are leery of vaccination in general," he explained.
Peskov stressed that getting the shot is the only way to defeat coronavirus. "We must step up the outreach campaign along with scaling up the production of the vaccine," he noted. "As we achieve large production volumes, more people will opt for this. Like all other countries in the world, we badly need it, since artificial and natural immunization of the population is the only way," Peskov stressed.
On March 23, President Putin got the Russian-made anti-coronavirus jab.
Three vaccines against COVID-19 have been registered in Russia. The first vaccine registered nationwide and worldwide is Sputnik V, developed by the Russian Health Ministry’s Gamaleya Center. It was certified on August 11, 2020. The second jab - EpiVacCorona - from the Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology of the consumer rights watchdog was registered in October 2020. CoviVac, the third vaccine, made by the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Chumakov Center was authorized by the Health Ministry in February.