Moscow rolls out Sputnik V vaccine to most exposed groups

Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V Covid-19 shot via 70 clinics on Saturday to the most exposed groups, marking Russia's first large-scale vaccination against the disease, the city's coronavirus task force said.

The Russian-made vaccine will first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they run the highest risk of exposure to the disease.

"You are working at an educational institution and have top-priority for the Covid-19 vaccine, free of charge," read a phone text message received by one Muscovite, an elementary school teacher, early on Saturday. President Vladimir Putin has ordered a nationwide voluntary vaccination programme to begin next week. He said Russia will have produced 2 million vaccine doses within the next few days.

The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, said in an interview with the BBC on Friday that Russia expects to give the vaccine to about 2 million people this month.

"Over the first five hours, 5,000 people signed up for the jab - teachers, doctors, social workers, those who are today risking their health and lives the most," Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his personal website on Friday.

Russia has already vaccinated more than 100,000 high-risk people, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said earlier this week during a separate presentation to the United Nations about Sputnik V. Among the first people signing up to the Moscow roll-out, Nadezhda Ragulina, an administrator at a Moscow clinic, said she wanted the vaccine as she had witnessed many COVID-19 patients.

"This is my decision... Some people close to me also have had an experience (of COVID-19). That's why I want to protect myself, my relatives, to obtain the immunity," she told Rossiya-24 state TV channel. Moscow, a city of around 13 million people, has been the epicentre of Russia's coronavirus outbreak. It reported 7,993 new cases on Saturday, up from 6,868 the day before and well above the daily tallies of around 700 seen in early September.