Russia inoculates 800,000 people, will now issue certificates
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Russia began rolling out Sputnik V vaccine in early December. It will now issue electronic vaccination certificates to people who will receive the vaccine from January 1 onwards. The ministry is keeping a database of Russians who have been vaccinated, TASS reported
More than 800,000 Russians have been inoculated against coronavirus, said Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko on Saturday. He added that more than 1.5 million vaccine doses have been dispatched. Russia has world's fourth-highest number of COVID-19 cases.
Russia began rolling out Sputnik V vaccine in early December. It will now issue electronic vaccination certificates to people who will receive the vaccine from January 1 onwards. The ministry is keeping a database of Russians who have been vaccinated, TASS reported.
The Sputnik V vaccine, which Russia already started supplying to other countries, is administered in two doses, which use different components, 21 days apart.
Russia sent 300,000 doses of the vaccine to Argentina last week, causing frustration at home, with some people arguing that more shots should be made available at home.
On Saturday, Russia reported 26,301 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking its total caseload to 3,212,637.
Authorities said 447 people had died in the past 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 58,002.
(With Reuters inputs)