Putin orders 'large-scale' COVID-19 vaccination in Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the start of a “large-scale” COVID-19 vaccination by late next week, with doctors and teachers to be the first in line to receive the Sputnik V shots, which have yet to complete advanced studies needed to ensure its effectiveness and safety in line with established scientific protocols.

Putin’s statement comes hours after Britain became the first country in the West to authorize the use of a COVID-19 vaccine from U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.

Sputnik V has been touted in Russia as the world’s “first registered COVID-19 vaccine” after it received regulatory approval in early August. However, giving the shots the government go-ahead drew considerable criticism from experts, because at the time they had only been tested on several dozen people.

Putin said Wednesday that more than 2 million doses of the Sputnik V jab “has been produced or will have been produced in the next few days.”

“This gives us the opportunity to start if not mass, but large-scale vaccination, and of course, as we agreed, first of all of the two risk groups — doctors and teachers,” Putin told government officials. He tasked Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova to “organize the work in such a way so that large-scale vaccination starts by the end of next week."

Golikova said that the vaccination will be voluntary and free of charge, and that the government was looking to include other demographics, on top of doctors and teachers, into the immunization campaign.

The two-shot Sputnik V vaccine was developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute. An advanced study among 40,000 volunteers was announced two weeks after the vaccine received government approval. The trial is still ongoing, but the vaccine is already being offered to people in...