Russian elite using experimental coronavirus vaccine since April

Kremlin-linked tycoons and political figures given early access to potential Covid-19 jab

Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin watches a Victory Day military parade in Moscow’s Red Square
(Image credit: Ramil Sitdikov/Host Photo Agency via Getty Images)

Russia’s political and business elite have reportedly been given early access to a coronavirus vaccine that has been in use since April.

Sources familiar with the country’s bid to develop the first Covid inoculation told Bloomberg that top executives, billionaire tycoons and government officials have been getting the shots, developed by the state-run Gamaleya Institute in Moscow.

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Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.