Vladimir Putin will receive Russian-made Covid jab in private tonight

President Vladimir Putin will be vaccinated in private on Tuesday evening, the Kremlin said.   

Putin announced on Monday that he would be vaccinated on Tuesday, joining other world leaders who have received jabs including US President Joe Biden, Pope Francis and Queen Elizabeth.

But unlike many others who were vaccinated in public – Biden was shown on TV being given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, while Ukraine’s Volodomyr Zelensky even took off his shirt for the jab – Putin will do so behind closed doors.

President Vladimir Putin will be vaccinated with a Russian-made jab, in private on Tuesday evening, the Kremlin said

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the 68-year-old Russian leader, who has never been media shy during his two decades in power, does not want to get a jab in front of the cameras.

‘We will not show this, you will have to take our word for it,’ Peskov told reporters.

‘As for being vaccinated in front of the cameras, he does not like it.’

Peskov said the Kremlin chief would receive one of three Russian vaccines, declining to specify which one ‘on purpose’.

‘All three Russian vaccines proved their effectiveness and reliability,’ Peskov said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the 68-year-old Russian leader does not want to get a jab in front of the cameras (pictured, a health worker gives a dose of Sputnik V to a patient in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday)

Russia has developed three vaccines – Sputnik V (pictured), EpiVacCorona and CoviVac, though most of the attention has focused on Sputnik, named after the first satellite launched into space by the Soviet Union

Russia has developed three vaccines – Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac, though most of the attention has focused on Sputnik, named after the first satellite launched into space by the Soviet Union. 

Russia registered the Sputnik V vaccine last August, ahead of large-scale clinical trials, sparking concern among many experts over the fast-track process. 

But trial results published in The Lancet last month showed Sputnik V having 91.6 per cent efficacy, going some way to dispel Western doubts about the shot.  

EU regulators are studying the trial data in a step towards possible approval by the European Medicines Agency in what would be a propaganda coup for Putin. 

Russia’s vaccination campaign has been slower than in many countries but Peskov said Putin did not have to get vaccinated in public to encourage more Russians to get jabs.

‘The president is doing a lot to promote vaccines as is,’ Peskov said.

Only about four million of the country’s 144 million people have so far received two doses of a vaccine, while another two million have had a first dose.   

Vaccine scepticism runs high in Russia, with a recent opinion poll showing less than a third willing to have a jab, and close to two-thirds saying they believe the coronavirus is a man-made biological weapon.

The country has been among the hardest hit by Covid-19, with more than 4.4 million cases of the coronavirus and more than 95,000 deaths.

Vaccine scepticism runs high in Russia, with a recent opinion poll showing less than a third willing to have a jab (pictured, servicemen wait to receive the vaccine in Moscow, Russia)