Name of vaccine Russia's Vladimir Putin to take will be a secret, says Kremlin

[March 23, 2021]    MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday it had deliberately decided it would not reveal the name of the Russian-made vaccine which President Vladimir Putin is due to take later on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting dedicated to the production of vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) via a video conference call at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia March 22, 2021. Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via REUTERS

"We are deliberately not saying which shot the president will get, noting that all three Russian (-made) vaccines are absolutely reliable and effective," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He said Putin, who announced his intention to get vaccinated a day earlier, would probably be vaccinated in the evening and would receive one of the three Russian-made shots.

Peskov said Putin had already done a lot to promote Russian-made vaccines, the most famous of which is Sputnik V. Moscow has also given emergency approval to two other domestic vaccines, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac.

Peskov said that Putin did not like the idea of being vaccinated on camera.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov/Alexander Marrow; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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