Today, on April 6, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev has been vaccinated against coronavirus with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. This was announced by his press secretary Berik Uali
“Today the Head of State received the Sputnik V vaccine produced by the Karaganda pharmaceutical plant. After the vaccination he feels good. There are no side effects”, – Uali wrote on Facebook. – “The president is convinced that only by vaccinating Kazakhstani citizens and by forming a collective immunity will we defeat the coronavirus, remove all restrictions, and ensure the restoration of normal life and economic activity.”
Uali reminded that the President urged the Kazakhstani people to be vaccinated as soon as possible, and he instructed the government and local executive bodies to supply vaccines from abroad and establish domestic production, as well as to organize the vaccination process.
Earlier Tokayev said he would wait for the Kazakhstani vaccine QazVac. Now apparently he is tired of waiting. The more so since May will surely be important international events, in particular Victory Day, and he needs to meet them fully armed. QazVac will not be available until the end of April.
As reported by EADaily , Sputnik V is currently the only vaccine available to Kazakhstanis and the first dose has already been given to almost 200,000 people, which is more than 1% of the population. Production of Sputnik V has been established in Kazakhstan, but they do not yet produce as much vaccine as we would like, so the medicine is being imported from Russia at the same time. Negotiations are also under way for the supply of other vaccines, including Sputnik Lite, but there is no clarity about them yet.
Kazakhstani authorities expect to vaccinate 6m people in the first half of the year, a third of the country’s population and 64% of its target customers. All 10m people eligible for the vaccine will be vaccinated by September, Prime Minister Askar Mamin said. About 18.8m people in Kazakhstan will not receive the vaccine. Children, medically prescribed patients and adults who have recently been sickened by the coronavirus are not eligible.