MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he had yet to be inoculated with a Russian-made vaccine against COVID-19 but would do so when possible.
The Russian leader has gone to great lengths not to contract the novel coronavirus, running the world’s largest country mainly from his residence outside Moscow rather than working from the Kremlin.
Speaking at his annual press conference, the 68-year-old said citizens in other age groups were receiving the Russian-made vaccine against COVID-19 before he could have access to it.
“I am a fairly law-abiding person,” Putin said, asked if he had been inoculated against COVID-19. “I listen to the recommendations of our specialists. So I haven’t had the shot yet. But I will absolutely do it as soon as that becomes possible.”
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said in June that the Russian leader was protected from the coronavirus by special disinfection tunnels that anyone visiting his residence or meeting him in the Kremlin must pass through.
Putin is also regularly tested for the virus, Peskov has said.
Russia has recorded more than 2.7 million infections and 49,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Data published this week found the Sputnik V vaccine, which Russian regulators approved in August after less than two months of human testing, to be 91.4% effective.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Andrew Osborn and Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
