03/23/2021 16:30
Clarín.com
World
Updated 03/23/2021 16:30
The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was vaccinated against the coronavirus on Tuesday, but the Kremlin did not report which of the three vaccines produced by that country was administered so that the population can see that "all are good, reliable and effective."
In Russia they hope that Putin's vaccination will boost the campaign throughout the country, which began on January 15 last and is reluctant by the majority of the population, according to various polls.
"Putin was vaccinated against the coronavirus. He feels good. Tomorrow he will have a full working day," said Kremlin spokesman
Dmitri Peskov
.
Dmitri Peskov, press secretary of the Russian Presidency.
Photo Reuters.
Russia currently has three vaccines against Covid-19:
Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac
, although the latter will begin to be used in the vaccination campaign only at the end of this month.
"We will not intentionally say which one to be vaccinated with. The three Russian vaccines are reliable. They are very good, safe and effective," Peskov said hours earlier.
However, everything indicates that
Sputnik V
, the first vaccine against the disease registered in the world, was chosen.
The latter, which was also the first to be introduced in Argentina, is the one with which the vast majority of the 6.3 million Russians who were inoculated were vaccinated.
Furthermore, it
is the most studied Russian national compound
.
Currently
Sputnik V is subjected by the European Medicines Agency (EMA)
to the process called "continuous review", a real-time analysis of data on its safety, efficacy and quality, which could lead to the authorization of the use of that drug in the European Union (EU).
This Tuesday, the director of the EMA,
Emer Cooke,
said that the agency "still has questions" that the developer of the Russian vaccine, the Gamaleya Center, must answer.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet approved the Russian vaccine for emergency use, which was requested in October last year.
The Gamaleya Center and the Russian health authorities maintain that Sputnik V is an absolutely safe vaccine, without adverse side effects and with an efficacy of 91.6%.
The photo of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V against the coronavirus.
Reuters photo
Little adherence of the population
According to a survey published at the beginning of this month by the Levada Center, if in December 2020 38% of the participants in the survey were willing to be vaccinated, in February they made up 30%, while in that same period those who did not wanted to inoculate the vaccine increased from 58 to 62%.
The majority (37%) of those who are against vaccination fear the possible adverse effects of the vaccine, a position shared by many members of the health personnel.
According to a recent study presented by Nikolai Briko, an epidemiologist at the Russian Ministry of Health,
only 31.3% of health workers without a medical degree are willing to be vaccinated
.
"This is a very serious matter. We really hope that the largest number of people will voluntarily make the decision to get vaccinated," Peskov said, answering the question whether Putin's vaccination will have a
"motivating effect
" on the population.
The Kremlin spokesman insisted that vaccination is absolutely voluntary, but that
people must understand that they must be vaccinated
to protect their health.
According to official data, to date Russia accumulates 4.47 million positives for coronavirus and 95,818 deaths, but so far this year the epidemic situation
has improved considerably compared to other European countries
.
Source: agencies.
AFG
Look also
The Kremlin will not report which of the Russian vaccines will be applied Vladimir Putin
CoviVac: what is known about the third Russian vaccine against coronavirus
