Putin is not taking Sputnik V yet

Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a separate statement about when he is going to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, March 12.

"I can not answer this question. The president promised to announce himself when he is going to be vaccinated," Peskov said.

In February, Peskov declined to talk about the vaccination schedule that the head of state intended to follow, noting that Putin was in "excellent health."

Prior to that, Putin himself did not rule out that he would be vaccinated against the coronavirus infection in late summer or early autumn.

Germany admits Sputnik V is efficient

Germany believes that Sputnik V may be more effective than the AstraZeneca, The Times reports.

Thomas Mertens, the head of Germany's Standing Committee on Vaccination, noted that the Russian vaccine was also created on the basis of adenovirus.

"Unlike the AstraZeneca vaccine, it uses two different viral vectors for the first and the second doses," he said.

Mertens said that it was a smart solution because it ensured the efficacy of the second injection.

"This is a good vaccine, and I assume that it will be approved for use in the EU," the expert said in an interview with the Rheinische Post publication.

Earlier, several European countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca drug after it was reported that a number of vaccinated individuals developed blood clots. The use of AstraZeneca vaccine was suspended in Austria, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. In addition, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Latvia refused to use the problematic vaccine batch. Another batch was banned by the Italian authorities.

There are currently four vaccines on the European market: Pfizer/BioNTech (up to 600 million doses), Moderna (two contracts for up to 460 million doses), AstraZeneca (up to 400 million doses) and Johnson&Johnson (400 million doses to be purchased with an option to purchase another 200 million).