Putin Declares Virus "Slowly Receding" In Russia Amid Sputnik V Mass Vaccination Campaign
Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting of his cabinet on Thursday that the swift actions of national health officials have caused the pandemic to slowly subside throughout the country, also given Russia was the first the roll out with a large-scale vaccination program of its population.
"Generally, [these actions] yield positive results," Putin declared, according to TASS. "The pandemic is gradually receding."
While stressing it remains "too early to relax" he nonetheless emphasized that the number of recoveries "has been steadily above the infection numbers lately." Putin added, "As of lethality, the situation is generally satisfactory if you can speak about it in such terms. Nevertheless, this is the case in comparison with other countries."
He further touted at a moment that Hungary has controversially broken ranks with the EU and approved and bought the Russian Sputnik V vaccine that, "We have around 12 infections per every 100,000 people," which is "four times as low as in European countries, many European countries."
"We launched a mass vaccination campaign on January 18, we have big plans in this regard," the president noted. "[Trade and Industry Minister Denis] Manturov reported to me that vaccine production was ahead of schedule," he added
Yet he still estimated that 68 million Russians needed to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Late summer and into the fall Russia faced fierce criticism over what Western officials called a "rush" to approve an unproven vaccine.
Indeed Russia was the first out globally, but time will tell of the effectiveness of the efforts. In early December 'frontline' workers that included teachers, doctors, social workers were the first round in the mass vaccination efforts, with the middle of this month seeing the campaign reaching the broader population.
Russia now has the fifth highest number of cases worldwide at just over 3.7 million infections, which is barely under the UK. For the past months Russia was among the top four most infected countries globally. Critics have attacked the Kremlin's official claims of having already vaccinated millions people with Sputnik V, with many suggesting the true number is in reality in the hundreds of thousands.
As the EU warns of supply delays in Covid-19 vaccine doses, and doubts mount about the effectiveness of the British Astra Zeneca offering, the makers of Russia’s @sputnikvaccine say they are ‘ready to help’ the 27-member bloc access supplies.https://t.co/4VBHceCqps
— Bryan MacDonald (@27khv) January 28, 2021
Moscow further says it's received orders for over a billion doses to be administered abroad at a moment the WHO is still reviewing it, as Reuters reports: "Asked about WHO’s scrutiny of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, Kluge said he had spoken with Moscow’s ambassador on Wednesday and that he could confirm that data needed by WHO scientists to review the shot was en route to Geneva where the WHO is based."
"The Russian vaccine is being distributed in Europe including EU member state Hungary as well as elsewhere in the world, even though the European Medicines Agency is not currently reviewing it for approval," the report noted.
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