Putin Orders Start of Mass Covid-19 Shots Hours After U.K. News
- President says Russia has more than 2 million Sputnik V doses
- Russia announces vaccination plan on same day as U.K. approval
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President Vladimir Putin said Russia should begin general vaccination of the population against Covid-19 next week, the same day the U.K. became the first western country to approve a vaccine for use.
“Let’s take this first step,” Putin told officials Wednesday during a video conference on the opening of Covid-19 hospitals built by the Defense Ministry. More than 2 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine will be ready for use within the next few days and “this gives us the opportunity to start vaccination on a mass scale,” he said.