Russia is offering its experimental COVID-19 vaccine to other countries, but Putin won’t take it until it’s formally approved

Russia is offering its experimental COVID-19 vaccine to other countries, but Putin won’t take it until it’s formally approved

Vladimir Putin attends the G20 summit hosted by Saudi Arabia via video conference on Nov. 21, 2020.







Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via The Associated Press













Russia has been hailing its trial coronavirus vaccine for months, but the Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin won't take it yet.

"The president cannot use an uncertified vaccine," Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Wednesday.

Russia gave "Sputnik V" emergency-use authorization on August 11 and has been giving it to frontline healthcare workers. Putin said at the time that one of his daughters had even taken it.

On Wednesday, Russia claimed that "Sputnik V" had shown 95% efficacy in trials and, on Saturday, Putin said Russia was ready to sell it to other countries.

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Russia is hailing its trial coronavirus vaccine, and offering it to other countries, but the Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin won't take it until it has completed all its trials and is formally certified.

"The president cannot use an uncertified vaccine," Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday, according to the state-run TASS news agency.

"We haven't started mass