The government of Russia has decided to vaccinate the people who are at a higher risk because of their profession and published a list of jobs considered high risk. The list includes health workers, journalists, and teachers. Two journalists at the state-run RIA news agency and two at the Russian state television holding company VGTRK, which operates Russia-1 and Russia-24 news channels, told Reuters they had been offered a COVID-19 shot voluntarily.
The RIA news agency confirmed the inoculation program. “We granted employees who constantly work from the office (not remotely), at events, and in the field, the option to receive a Sputnik V vaccination,” it said in a statement.
With hundreds of potential COVID-19 vaccines in various stages of development around the world, Russia was the first country to license its vaccine for public use. Russia introduced a vaccine for COVID-19, named “Sputnik V”. After its registration with fewer than 100 tests, more than 40,000 volunteers have been vaccinated.
“The first batch of the ‘Gam-COVID-Vac’ [Sputnik V] vaccine for the prevention of the new Coronavirus infection, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Ministry of Health of Russia, has passed the necessary quality tests in the laboratories of Roszdravnadzor [medical device regulator] and has been released into civil circulation,” the ministry said in a statement.
