Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence in the reliability of Russian vaccines during an online meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova. According to Putin, unlike the innovative American vaccines Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, Russian vaccines “are based on technologies and platforms that have been used for decades,” and therefore are the safest. Speaking about the reliability of Russian vaccines, Putin cited a February statement by the Austrian infectious disease specialist Florian Talhammer, who compared Sputnik V to a Kalashnikov assault rifle. 

(C)MEDUZA 2021