|
 The Kremlin had previously said that Putin, 68, received a two-dose
vaccine in March and April, but it gave no further details and did
not release images of him getting it.
That lack of publicity came under the spotlight this month as
officials complained about the of slow uptake for COVID-19 shots,
which are readily available, and began trying to coax and compel
people to get inoculated.
Putin was asked during his annual televised question and answer
session which shot he had had.
He said he had been asked not to reveal its name so as not to give
the product a competitive advantage, but went on to say it was
Sputnik V, one of Russia's four vaccines. Moscow has not approved
any foreign vaccines.
"I thought that I needed to be protected for as long as possible. So
I chose to be vaccinated with Sputnik V. The military is getting
vaccinated with Sputnik V, and after all I'm the
commander-in-chief," he said.
"After the first shot, I didn't feel anything at all. About four
hours later, there was some tenderness where I had the shot. I did
the second at midday. At midnight, I measured my temperature. It was
37.2 (Celsius). I went to sleep, woke up and my temperature was
36.6. That was it.
[to top of second column] |
 "I don't support mandatory
vaccination, and I continue to hold this point
of view."
The Kremlin said this week that Russia would
fall short of its goal to vaccinate 60% of
Russians by the autumn because uptake was so
low.
Russia reported 669 coronavirus-related deaths
nationwide on Wednesday, the highest official
daily total since the pandemic began. It also
confirmed 21,042 new cases in the previous 24
hours, including 5,823 in Moscow.
Officials have blamed the surge in cases on the
Delta variant.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Andrew
Osborn; writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by
Kevin Liffey)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
 |
