MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has administered at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to more than 18 million people, around 12% of the population, the TASS news agency cited Health Minister Mikhail Murashko as saying on Wednesday.
The figure suggests another 1 million people have been vaccinated in the past week.
Russia was the first country in the world to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for domestic use, prior to the start of large-scale trials. It has recorded more than 5 million coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic.
Russia rolled out its first vaccine, Sputnik V, last December and President Vladimir Putin has insisted on the need to ramp up the production of vaccines for domestic use.
Russia has approved four vaccines for domestic use, of which the most widely used is Sputnik V. It is administered in two doses, with a gap of 21 days between each shot.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
