Putin still hasn't taken Russia's vaccine, months after daughter's inoculation

Moscow, Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't been vaccinated against the coronavirus yet, months after his daughter's inoculation.

Putin had, months ago, announced his country's Sputnik V as the "world's first" approved Covid-19 vaccine and said his own daughter had taken it.

Vaccine trials for the first group of volunteers aged 60 and over began on October 28.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that Putin cannot get a vaccine that has not yet finished the final stage of trials, even though the jab has already been given to some Russian frontline health care workers, teachers and several top level officials outside the clinical trials.

This news came on the same day that Sputnik V's developers published new information about the vaccine, touting it as effective, cheap and easy to transport.

Researchers said that analysis of data obtained 28 days after the first dose and seven days after the second dose suggests the Sputnik vaccine was 91.4% effective in preventing infections.

Putin first announced Russia's vaccine was approved for public use in August, even though at that point it had been tested only on several dozen subjects in a non-blind study. The announcement came before the start of Phase 3 trials.

Pfizer and Moderna reported similar efficacy rates -- 94.5% for Moderna and 95% for Pfizer. 

AstraZeneca announced on Monday that its experimental coronavirus vaccine has shown an average efficacy of 70%.