After receiving the booster shot, Putin volunteered to take part in testing the intranasal vaccine in development by the Gamaleya Center, the maker of Sputnik V and the subsequent single dose Sputnik Light, he said at a televised meeting with government members.
Putin said he "didn't feel anything" after the intranasal vaccination. "Today, after these two procedures -- the injection and the nasal form, the second part -- I already went in for sports this morning. So I can testify that everything is developing the way our scientists say it does," he told ministers.
According to Logunov, the nasal vaccine "just needs a little finalizing then it will go into clinical tests, and after that, we certainly plan to begin the new vaccine rollout." It is "convenient, painless, with an absolute minimum of side effects," he said.
Russia has
lagged behind much of the world when it comes to getting its population inoculated, despite being the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, for use in August 2020.
According to the latest numbers available from October, 47.8 million Russians have received their first shot and 42.4 million have been fully vaccinated in a country with a population of about 146 million.
Russia has struggled to bring
rising coronavirus infections under control in recent weeks.
The country has recorded 262,733 deaths from Covid-19, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.