After months of secrecy over the chosen vaccine, Vladimir Putin assures that Sputnik V has been launched | International

The vaccination of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the subject of speculation for months. In March, the Kremlin announced that the 68-year-old Russian leader had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, but while cameras were present to document Putin’s adventures of a butterfly swimming in the sea, riding a horse with its trunk uncovered or driving a car through the Siberian Taiga, there were no graphic indications for this piercing. And this dispelled the suspicions of the Russian citizen, who is accustomed to distrust the state. On Wednesday, as Russia faces a record death rate from covid-19 and the Eurasian country faces a terrible third wave, the Russian leader secured that he was vaccinated in February with Sputnik V, the star Russian vaccine, the first to be recorded in the world? when clinical trials had not yet been completed.

Putin, who has previously designated Sputnik V as authorized in more than 60 states and has been used in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Belarus or Serbia as a product as reliable as a Kalshnikov rifle, has given a few details about his secret vaccination. However, he insisted that both he and the country’s main military positions wore Sputnik B, but did not disclose the drug of choice, so as not to provide it against the other three Russian vaccines. “I hope most people in this country understand that if I say I was vaccinated, then so be it,” Putin said in his opening minutes. Straight line, an annual television marathon in which the Russian leader answers citizens’ questions and which has been at the center of his agenda since its first broadcast in 2001.

Russia once again recorded a number of coronavirus deaths this Wednesday since the beginning of the pandemic: 669 deaths and 21,042 new infections were recorded in a country that has identified cases of the most contagious Delta variant. St. Petersburg, which hosts the Euro Cup quarter-final match between Spain and Switzerland on Friday, has also recorded the worst rate (111 deaths) since the onset of the health crisis.

And meanwhile, after months of triumphant speeches against the virus and lax health measures (and largely unfulfilled), in addition) the government is now making an effort to promote vaccination. Despite the fact that Russia was the first country to register a vaccine (Sputnik V) and that the free immunization campaign for the general population and Russian citizenship started last January, the drug does not end, it is weakened by the distrust of the citizen and with the feeling that the virus is not as harmful; it is encouraged by the opaque official death toll, which has minimized the pandemic.

Thus, the authorities seek to promote vaccination with formulas as mandatory for certain professions. This Wednesday, Putin, who tends to deviate from the most controversial and unpopular decisions left by regional leaders to deal with resentment, was against the vaccination that is already in place. in fact mandatory for certain sectors. But the Russian leader, who has given examples of people in his inner circle who were suffering from coronavirus, tried to defend immunity as the only way to end the pandemic, and that both Sputnik Vs have not yet been approved by the WHO or the European Medicines Agency) like the other three vaccines designed in Russia are safe and effective.

However, the Russian leader did not miss the opportunity to launch an arrow against Western vaccines, a speech that actually helps to challenge vaccination in a country where recent polls show that up to 60% of citizens are reluctant to do so. . vaccinated. “Thank God we did not have tragic situations after vaccinations like after using AstraZeneca or Pfizer,” Putin said.

Vaccines for Guatemala

Sputnik V, designed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow and funded by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), has been a real diplomatic injection for Russia. The vaccine is more popular outside the home, where Moscow has been working to promote it, than indoors. However, when the Kremlin seeks to promote injections into Russia and there are some shortages in the most remote provinces, Guatemala, one of the countries that has signed supply agreements with Moscow, has ensured that Russia does not meet the deadlines.

Guatemalan Health Minister Amelia Flores on Tuesday assured that the Central American country has received only 150,000 doses out of the 8 million paid and ordered. He confirmed that he had asked Moscow to return the money offered for lack of delivery or to send the vaccines within 20 days.

Following criticism from Guatemala, a spokesman for the RDIF (Russian Treasury) assured in a written statement that Russia would meet the deadlines and that a vaccine plane would arrive in Guatemala this week and that another aircraft would be flown. . next week. He also assured that RDIF, which is responsible for negotiating and processing the agreements with the countries, had not received any formal notice of the refund.