Russia Covid vaccine: Putin says some of his close relatives got inoculated, says report

Amid the buzz of developing a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that somme of his relatives and people in his inner circle had been inoculated, according to a report.

"My close ones, my close relatives, people who are working around me got vaccinated. I’m speaking about dozens of people - approximately about 50," Putin said at a meeting with Ukrainian politician, head of the Political Council of the Opposition Platform - For Life party Viktor Medvedchuk, according to a Russian news agency TASS.

"Almost the entire command of the Russian Defense Ministry and other special services were inoculated," the president added.

Medvedchuk, in turn, told the Russian leader that he, his wife and son also received the Russian vaccine, according to the report.

Earlier, Putin had reportedly declared his intent to get inoculated. The announcement came as a move to decrease the level of measures of Russian President’s epidemiologic protection, reported TASS citing Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"There are, of course, special precautions when it concerns the head of state. He has stated already that he is thinking about the vaccine," the spokesman said. He added that "in order to decrease the level of epidemiologic precaution measures, it is necessary to get inoculated," added the report.

On August 11, Russia became the first country to license a Covid-19 vaccine, calling it "Sputnik V" in homage to the world's first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. On that day, the Russian president emphasized that the vaccine underwent the necessary tests. He added that one of his two daughters has received a dose of the vaccine and is feeling well, according to Associated Press reports.

But western experts have warned against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory steps have been taken. The vaccine is undergoing Phase 3 trials.

The vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants in early-stage trials, according to results published by The Lancet medical journal earlier that were hailed by Moscow as an answer to its critics.

The results of the two trials, conducted in June-July this year and involving 76 participants, showed 100% of participants developing antibodies to the new coronavirus and no serious side effects, The Lancet said.

However, a group of international scientists questioned results from the Lancet medical journal, saying some of the findings appeared improbable, reported Bloomberg.

The researchers flagged concerns over seemingly identical levels of antibodies in a number of study participants who were inoculated with the experimental vaccine. This and other patterns in the data present “several different points of concern," according to an open letter written by Temple University professor Enrico Bucci and signed by more than a dozen other scientists.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Russia registered 11,115 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the cumulative case total to 1,248,619, the country's coronavirus response center said.

The response center reported 202 new coronavirus-related fatalities, up from 188 yesterday, raising Russia's total death toll to 21,865.

As many as 6,699 coronavirus patients were confirmed to have recovered over the last day, up from 6,252 yesterday, bringing the total number of discharges to 995,2758.

With agency inputs