Russia’s Covid-19 vaccines as reliable as AK-47 rifle: Putin

President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia’s Covid-19 vaccines are as reliable as the country’s world-renowned Kalashnikov rifle, reported news agency TASS.

Four domestically developed Covid-19 vaccines have been approved in Russia so far.

During a video conference with deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova on Thursday, Putin said, “Our medications are based on technologies and platforms that have been used literally for decades. They are also very modern and up-to-date, and undoubtedly, they are the most reliable and the safest.”

“They are as reliable as an AK-47. By the way, it wasn’t us who said that, this was said by a European specialist. And I think that he is certainly right,” TASS quoted Putin as saying.

The AK-47 is one of the world’s most familiar and widely used weapons.

Putin’s remarks came on a day Russian authorities gave regulatory approval to a single-dose version of the country’s Sputnik V vaccine. Named Sputnik Light, the new version is identical to the first dose of the two-dose Sputnik V and is yet to complete advanced clinical trials.

Russia faced criticism last year for authorising Sputnik V before advanced trials had even started. Perception started changing about Sputnik V in February this year when trial data was published in the journal The Lancet. The paper said the vaccine “appears safe and effective” and was 91% effective against coronavirus.

The two-dose version of the jab has now been authorised in dozens of other countries around the world. Sputnik V is among the three Covid-19 vaccines currently approved for emergency use in India.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)