“Look, there are many crooks around who pretend to be getting vaccinated,” says Putin

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin today ostensibly put a big question mark over the genuineness of world leaders whose photos while getting vaccinated got wide media publicity, and spilled the beans saying, “Look, there are many crooks around who pretend to be getting vaccinated. Regrettably, the medics often play along, making the shot with some unknown substance, maybe not even a medication… Yes, just saline or nothing at all.” 

Putin was responding to question raised by citizens that was posed to the Russian President during Direct Line live broadcasting – “Tell us the truth: Did the President get vaccinated or not? Why is there no video?”

Putin countered that question saying that as  for the video, he does not believe that showing it is so important. “What if you receive the jab not in the arm but in some other part of the body? Would I be obliged to show the video nevertheless?” he asked.

He added: “I hope that the majority of our people understand that when I say that I have taken the jab this is indeed so. I believe that cheating is unacceptable at this level.”

Putin was was also asked which vaccine he had received, to which he said he was indeed asked not to reveal which vaccine he received so as not to give it a competitive advantage.

“But I can see that there are very many questions regarding this,” he said and revealed that when he got the shot back in February, there were only two vaccines available commercially: EpiVacCorona from the Vektor Centre in Novosibirsk and Sputnik V. Claiming that while both vaccines are good, (“The third one was barely created then and was not available commercially at the time”),  he said he could have taken any of them.

“But, strange as it may seem to some people, I did not even consult the doctors. I just looked at what shots my acquaintances had received. As I said, both vaccines are good and modern. The one from the Vektor Centre is wholly synthetic and, as they say, more advanced. But as I could see from the example of my acquaintances – maybe I should not say this, but I nevertheless want to explain my reasoning – the duration of effect of the Vektor vaccine is a bit shorter, although it has other advantages, such as the absence of any side effects at all, specifically fever or any other side effects. But I believed that I needed to be protected for as long as possible, and so I chose to be vaccinated with Sputnik V, especially considering that the military are getting vaccinated with Sputnik V, and I am their Supreme Commander, after all.”

He added: “I have already talked about this, but I can repeat. I did not feel anything after the first jab, only slightly sore in the shoulder after about four hours. I had my second jab at noon and took my temperature at midnight, it was 37.2. I went to bed and when I woke up it was 36.6. That was it. In about 20 days, I think, I had a blood test that showed that I had a high level of protection. I recommend you do the same.”

Putin pointed out that  people get infected even after they have had the vaccine, in about 10 percent of cases. He asserted that they recover fast and with no serious consequences, which is important. “This is what matters, I think,” he said, emphasizing that without a vaccine, this illness may result in quite severe long-term consequences. “Some people close to me were vaccinated too but still got the coronavirus, unfortunately. But they recovered fairly quickly and did not need any strong medication. I am talking about people in my immediate circle. What I am saying is vaccination makes sense,” he emphasized and told the audience, “That is why you, too, should watch your health and go through rehabilitation, if necessary”.

However taking a dig at British-Swedish AstraZeneca and American Pfizer vaccines, Putin referred to the Russian vaccines and said: “As you are aware, experts have already mentioned this many times on television, online and in many media outlets, on all television channels, that vaccination is the only way to put an end to further spread of the pandemic. We can do this since we have four high-tech, safe and very effective vaccines. So, I hope some of our citizens who are still biased about the vaccines will change their minds as the vaccination continues. Over 20 million – I believe, 23 million people – have been vaccinated. As you can see, everything is okay and, thankfully, we do not have any tragic vaccination side effects as is the case with AstraZeneca or Pfizer.”

He though reiterated that he did not support mandatory vaccination.