MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. The novel coronavirus inoculation may be included into Moscow’s vaccination calendar, the Russian capital’s deputy mayor Anastasia Rakova said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Thursday.
"I think that the vaccine will be available free of charge and will be included into the vaccination calendar," she said.
The deputy mayor added that vaccination would be voluntary. In her words, Moscow residents are currently divided about the need to vaccinate. "50% want to get vaccinated, 50 have doubts," she said.
"For now, even when the civilian circulation of the vaccine begins, it will be available in limited batches," she said. "And, naturally, we will use them to vaccinate at-risk groups, such as doctors, teachers, city utilities employees who directly communicate with people."
Earlier, the Russian capital launched health screening of first volunteers, who applied for becoming vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. Doctors are selecting candidates who have no contraindications to vaccination. According to Rakova, the first 13 residents of Moscow who were vaccinated against the novel coronavirus are now in good health.
On August 11, Russia was reported to have become the first country in the world to register a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, named Sputnik V. The inoculation was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry and passed clinical trials in June and July. It is based on a platform that was widely used for the development of other vaccines in the past.
To date, 1,046,370 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 862,373 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 18,263 fatalities nationwide.