Russians reject Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine despite Vladimir Putin’s pleas

The president urged Russians to cast their doubts aside and get jabbed, saying the country’s shots were ‘the most reliable and safest’ in the world

Much of the mistrust stems from people’s belief that the development of the vaccine was rushed to boost the Kremlin’s foreign policy credentials

Reading Time:3 minutes

Russia registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in August 2020. File photo: Reuters

Published: 11:48pm, 27 May 2021Updated: 3:34am, 28 May 2021

Like many Moscow residents, Davlatmo Khadamshoyeva has her doubts about coronavirus vaccines developed in Russia, and is in no hurry to be immunised.

“I haven’t got the jab yet. I don’t really trust it,” the 23-year-old international student, not wearing a mask, said outside an iconic shopping centre on Red Square. “The vaccine hasn’t been fully tested yet.”

Russia – with great fanfare – registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in August 2020. Named after the world’s first satellite, launched by the USSR in 1957, Sputnik has been touted by President Vladimir Putin as “the world’s best” jab, while leading independent medical journal, The Lancet, deemed it effective in a study published in February.

In addition to Sputnik, Russian scientists have also developed two more vaccines. Still, authorities in Moscow and other cities are facing an uphill battle to win over sceptics like Khadamshoyeva.

Putin on Wednesday urged Russians to cast their doubts aside and get vaccinated, saying the country’s shots were “the most reliable and safest” in the world.