Putin slams vaccine criticism, to get jab on Tuesday

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Monday dismissed foreign criticism of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and said he planned to get a jab himself this week.

The state-sponsored Russian vaccine has yet to be approved for widespread use in Western countries, despite Moscow’s insistence it is safe and effective, and the slow rollouts of vaccination campaigns in Europe.

Critics in the West have raised questions about the vaccine and accused Russia of using it as a propaganda tool, but Putin called such comments “strange” and suggested lives were being put at risk.

“We are not imposing anything on anyone… Whose interests are such people protecting — of pharmaceutical companies or the interests of citizens of European countries?” he said in a televised meeting with health officials.

After months of queries about when the 68-year-old would himself be inoculated, Putin said he planned to do so on Tuesday.

“Vaccination is of course the voluntary choice of every person… By the way, I intend to do it myself tomorrow,” he said.

Russia registered Sputnik V in August, ahead of large-scale clinical trials, prompting worries among many experts over the fast-track process.

Later reviews have been largely positive, with leading medical journal The Lancet publishing results showing it safe and more than 90 percent effective.