Russia: Putin calls for 'large-scale' vaccinations to start next week

Riot of combat in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday asked the country's health authorities to start “large-scale” vaccinations against Covid-19 at the end of next week.

"The industry and the infrastructure are ready," he declared during a videoconference to his Deputy Prime Minister in charge of health Tatiana Golikova.

This free vaccination campaign on a voluntary basis had been in the pipeline since the Gamaleïa research center in Moscow was pleased at the end of November with the 95% effectiveness rate of Sputnik V. An announcement made while the third and last phase of clinical trials involving 40,000 volunteers is not yet complete.

Priority risk audiences

"I know that more than 2 million doses have already been produced or will be produced in the coming days", added the Russian president, specifying that "the groups at risk, doctors and teachers" will be vaccinated first.

At the end of November, the authorities announced that they had started to vaccinate the Russian military: more than 400,000 of them must be vaccinated, including 80,000 by the end of the year.

While Russia has so far been stingy on the scientific documentation of this vaccine touted by President Vladimir Putin, the creators of Sputnik V promise that the research will soon be published "in one of the world's leading medical journals and evaluated. by peers ”.

In total, Russia has recorded 2.3 million cases of the coronavirus since the start of the epidemic, including 41,053 deaths.

If Vladimir Putin recently deemed the situation "worrying", any new national confinement is for the moment excluded in order to avoid putting the economy on hold.

The Russian vaccine is also popular in Hungary

Suffice to say that the Russian vaccine raises a lot of hope in the country under the skeptical eye of the countries of Western Europe.

As a reminder, the EU has concluded six contracts (Pfizer / BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi-GSK, Moderna and CureVac), but has not negotiated anything with the Russian developer.

Only Hungary has chosen to stand apart.

Budapest received a sample of the Russian vaccine last week and plans, after examining it, for possible larger-scale deliveries or even potential production by a Hungarian manufacturer next year.

This remedy, without going through the green light from the EU, is possible but must remain "temporary" and "limited", said the European Commission.

Newsletter - Most of the news

Every morning, the news seen by Le Parisien

I'm registering

Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.

Learn more

Russia, determined to take the lead, had announced in August, even before large-scale clinical trials, the effectiveness of Sputnik V, raising doubts within the international scientific community.

EU defends slower method

The announcement of the imminent implementation of this vaccine campaign comes as the United Kingdom has just authorized the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine at the same time ... again without waiting for the approval of European authorities.

"The important thing is not to be the first, but to have a safe and effective vaccine," German Minister of Health Jens Spahn said on Wednesday, during a videoconference meeting with his counterparts.

The EU is a snail compared to its neighbors.

The European Medicines Agency thus leaves itself until the end of the year or early 2021 to approve the first vaccines.

A calendar on which several countries have stuck in outlining their plans in recent days, such as Spain, Italy or France.

Like Russia, the United States hope to start its vaccination campaign before mid-December, as soon as the approval of their Medicines Agency (FDA) has been obtained.