Russian
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised the safety and efficacy of the country’s
Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine and said he will get himself inoculated as soon as
it is approved for people of his age.

Speaking at
his annual end-of-year presser, the 68-year-old confirmed he had not received a
shot yet, and “will definitely do so as soon as it becomes possible”, AFP
reported.

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Putin had
earlier claimed Russia was the first country to “invent” and develop a vaccine
for the novel coronavirus, describing it as 96-97% effective, according to experts.

The President had announced the registration of the vaccine, named after the Soviet-era
satellite, in August ahead of large-scale clinical trials which involved over
40,000 volunteers.

Developers said
interim clinical trials of the vaccine showed it to be over 90% effective in
providing protection from the COVID-19 infection.

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Earlier
this month, Russia started a large-scale public vaccination drive, offering the
jab initially to people in high-risk groups. Putin said on Thursday that by the
start of next year Russia will have access to “millions of doses of the
vaccine”.

He also
praised Russia’s handling of the pandemic, saying the country met the challenge
“with dignity and, in part, maybe even better than other countries in the
world”.

Yet he
conceded that there were a “huge number of problems” associated with
the pandemic.

Russia has
the fourth-highest virus caseload in the world, registering nearly three
million infections since the start of the pandemic.