Over 20,000 New COVID-19 Cases... Putin Reveals Receiving 'Sputnik V' Vaccination

Revealed in Live Broadcast 'Dialogue with the People'
Received Two Vaccinations in March and April

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] As the number of new COVID-19 cases in Russia surged to the 20,000 range, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on the 30th (local time) that he received the Russian-made COVID-19 vaccine 'Sputnik V.' This is the first time President Putin has disclosed the type of vaccine he received.

President Putin revealed this during the annual "Direct Line with the People," broadcast live on major TV channels that day, regarding the type of vaccine he received. He explained that the reason for not disclosing the vaccine type until now was to avoid giving an advantage to any specific vaccine.

Putin said, "When I was vaccinated, two types of vaccines were available on the market: EpiVacCorona and Sputnik V. Both are good vaccines, but I wanted to receive a vaccine that would provide protection for as long as possible, so I chose Sputnik V."

He added that he heard from experts that the efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine lasts somewhat longer than that of the EpiVacCorona vaccine.

Sputnik V is a COVID-19 vaccine developed and approved by the Russian government in August last year, making it the world's first approved vaccine of its kind.

It was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology under the Russian Ministry of Health, supported by the local sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), and the Ministry of Defense. Unlike the usual vaccine development process, Sputnik V was approved based only on Phase 1 and 2 clinical trial results before Phase 3 trials, which at one point sparked controversy over its efficacy and safety.

However, in early February, the prestigious medical journal The Lancet published Phase 3 results showing the vaccine's preventive efficacy at 91.6%, leading to a more positive evaluation. Currently, over 60 countries, including Russia, have approved the use of this vaccine, and the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are also in the process of approval.

EpiVacCorona is a vaccine developed by the Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology, located in Novosibirsk, Siberia, under the Russian consumer rights protection and welfare supervision agency, Rospotrebnadzor. The Russian Ministry of Health approved the EpiVacCorona vaccine in October last year.

While Sputnik V is a vector vaccine that uses a vector to deliver the COVID-19 virus gene into the body, EpiVacCorona is a synthetic antigen vaccine manufactured by synthesizing a part of the protein antigen that triggers an immune response.

President Putin previously revealed that he received the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in March and April, respectively, but did not disclose which vaccine he received. Images of President Putin receiving the vaccine were also not made public, leading to some public skepticism about whether he was actually vaccinated.

The number of infections in Russia is rapidly increasing. According to foreign media on the 30th (local time), Russia recorded 21,042 new daily cases. Among these, 5,823 new infections were reported in the capital, Moscow alone. The daily new case count, which was around 8,000 to 9,000 in late May, has recently surged to the 20,000 range.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.