Russia vaccinates more than 1 million people against the coronavirus with ‘Sputnik V’

More than one million people in Russia have been vaccinated against the coronavirus with “Sputnik V,” the vaccine’s developers announced on Twitter on Wednesday, January 6.

Alexander Gintsburg, the director of the Gamaleya Research Institute, which developed the vaccine, gave roughly the same estimate in conversation with RIA Novosti yesterday. According to him, more than 1.5 million doses of Sputnik V will go into civilian circulation by the end of the New Year holidays.

The federal government headquarters for combating the virus isn’t publishing exact statistics on vaccination against COVID-19 in Russia. Earlier, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko was the only one to announce vaccination numbers — according to him, 800,000 people in Russia had been immunized against the coronavirus as of January 2.

Russia registered Sputnik V as its first vaccine against the coronavirus on August 11, 2020. The post-registration study of the vaccine is currently ongoing, in parallel with its release into civilian circulation in Russia. According to the newswire Interfax, Russia has received applications to purchase more than 1.2 billion doses of its vaccine from more than 50 countries.

According to a public opinion survey conducted by the independent Levada Center in December 2020, 58 percent of Russians don’t want to be immunized with the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.