Putin gets Covid vaccine; Kremlin refuses to share details

Russian President Vladimir Putin has got vaccinated against COVID-19 with an unspecified Russian-made vaccine.

The Kremlin Tuesday told Russian news agencies that Putin was feeling well, however, declining to disclose details or provide photographs.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, earlier told reporters that the media would have to take the Kremlin's word for Putin's vaccination, adding the president did not like the idea of being vaccinated on camera.

"We are deliberately not saying which shot the president will get, noting that all three Russian (-made) vaccines are absolutely reliable and effective," said Peskov.

The Kremlin told Russian news agencies on Tuesday evening that the president had got the shot. "He has a full working day tomorrow," the RIA news agency's Kremlin pool cited the Kremlin as saying.

Apart from Sputnik V, Moscow has also given emergency approval to two others, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac.

Putin said on Monday that the decision to get vaccinated was a purely voluntary one for Russians. He said that 4.3 million Russians had so far got two shots of a vaccine, that vaccine production for domestic use was a priority, and that output needed to be ramped up.

Over 200,000 Russians have so far died of COVID-19 -- making it the world's third highest death toll behind only the United States and Brazil.