Moscow starts mass Covid-19 vaccination with its Sputnik V shot

Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V Covid-19 shot via 70 clinics over the weekend, marking Russia’s first mass vaccination against the disease, the city’s coronavirus task force said.

The Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk of exposure to the disease, it added.

“You are working at an educational institution and have top-priority for the Covid-19 vaccine, free of charge,” read a phone text message received early on Saturday by one Muscovite, an elementary school teacher.

“In prospect, we have to vaccinate six to seven million people,” Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin told state TV Rossiya-1 in an interview on Sunday when the country reported yet another record high number of new cases.

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Russia reported a daily increase of 29,039 new cases, taking the national total to 2,460,770 since the pandemic began, while the official national death toll rose to 43,141.

It has put high hopes on its vaccines but some scientists have raised concerns about the speed at which it gave the regulatory go-ahead and launched mass inoculations.

“Over the first five hours, 5,000 people signed up for the jab – teachers, doctors, social workers, those who are today risking their health and lives the most,” mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his personal website on Friday.

Capped at 60

The age for those receiving shots is capped at 60. People with certain underlying health conditions, pregnant women and those who have had a respiratory illness for the past two weeks are barred from vaccination.

Russia has developed two Covid-19 vaccines, Sputnik V which is backed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund and another developed by Siberia's Vector Institute, with final trials for the both yet to be completed.

Scientists have raised concerns about the speed at which Russia has worked, giving the regulatory go-ahead for its vaccines and launching mass vaccinations before full trials to test its safety and efficacy had been completed and associated data have been published.

Two injections

The Sputnik V vaccine is administered in two injections, with the second dose is expected to be given 21 days after the first.

Moscow closed down all public places including parks and cafes, with exception for delivery, in late March, with police patrolling the streets looking for whose violating the rules. Restrictions were eased from mid-June, however.

In October, certain restrictions such as remote learning for some secondary school children and a 30 per cent limit on the number of workers allowed in offices were introduced again. – Reuters