MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Russians need to urgently get vaccinated in order to prevent a negative scenario of the COVID-19 spread, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said on Sunday.

"It’s important to get vaccinated and if needed to get revaccinated as soon as possible in order to protect themselves and their close ones and avoid a repetition of a negative scenario of the epidemic’s development that occurred in India. Steps of the regions on boosting and introducing compulsory vaccination for certain categories of citizens allow to save many lives," Dmitriev said.

The RDIF CEO also stressed that unlike other countries Russia has developed safe vaccines, which are widely available. According to him, Sputnik V’s effectiveness and safety has been confirmed by data of medical regulators in dozens of countries.

"Urgent vaccination of Russian citizens is especially critical now amid the emergence of a new coronavirus strain that mutated in India - the Delta variant. In various countries this strain’s spread among those who catch the disease can be in different ways. But as we see the example of India, within two months since the spread the average daily number of cases rose 25 times at the peak of the incidence," he stated.

Moscow and the Moscow Region were the first in Russia to announce mandatory coronavirus vaccination for some categories. The regulations drawn up by the regional chief sanitary doctors were published on June 16. Both documents contain almost identical lists of those who are now required to receive the vaccine. Among them are employees of enterprises working in trade, services, public catering, housing and communal services, transport (including taxi drivers), entertainment centers, education, health care, social protection, as well as beauty salons, fitness clubs, theaters, cinemas, concert halls, banks, post offices as well as officials.