MOSCOW – President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was vaccinated against the coronavirus on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, ending months of resistance to vaccination, even promoting injections made in his country.
The injection of the president was not shown on television, an exception to the common coverage of Putin’s daily activities on state television.
His spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said that Putin had promoted vaccination in other ways and did not need to be shown in public by being shot.
“The president, as you can see, has devoted a significant part of his working time to events, discussions and meetings about vaccines, about vaccine production and so on,” said Peskov. “The president is already doing a lot for vaccine advertising.”
Peskov addressed the scarcity issue only in the export markets for the most widely used Russian vaccine, called Sputnik V, saying that overseas demand exceeded supply and that, therefore, the vaccine did not need promotion.
In addition to Sputnik V, Russia has approved two other internally developed vaccines for emergency use – EpiVacCorona and CoviVac – which have not yet completed their clinical trials. All three Russian vaccines require two doses.
Peskov declined to specify which of the three Russian-made vaccines Putin received.
Under Russian rules, Putin became eligible for a Sputnik V shot in late December based on his age; he is 68 years old. But months passed without a word from the Kremlin about its vaccination.
The Kremlin and outside analysts of Russian vaccine policy offered a variety of explanations about the presidential backwardness.
At the very least, Putin is not ashamed to appear in public without a shirt, taking advantage of opportunities to show his general good health with bare-chested photos from Siberian fisheries or horseback riding.
He is also not known to have any qualms about vaccines. He told Russian newspaper editors last month that he receives annual flu shots and that he can be vaccinated against the coronavirus along with a flu shot in the fall.
In response to a question about whether to promote vaccination by example, he said he did not want to “make a monkey” by appearing in public to receive a coronavirus vaccine, according to a report from the meeting.
Russia’s vaccination campaign lagged far behind the United States and most European nations – the country vaccinated 3.9% of the population with at least one dose, compared with 25% in the United States. Some attribute this difference to the general hesitation of the vaccine, something that a presidential injection could help to overcome.
Russian media reports, however, pointed to signs of another cause: shortages and production bottlenecks that officials have recently recognized.
During a video conference with vaccine manufacturers on Monday, Putin said Russia had produced 8.9 million sets of two-dose Sputnik V vaccines since regulators approved it in August. But he said production would rise significantly to 17 million devices a month starting in April. Last fall, authorities predicted a much faster launch.
Promoting vaccination with a presidential injection before doses were widely available in Russia may have served only to highlight the shortage of vaccines at home, even with Russia exporting vaccines globally, a sensitive political issue.
Putin cited his own vaccination plans on Monday, while announcing plans to produce enough doses for most adults by August.