Medics and teachers first in line as Russia rolls out Covid-19 vaccine

Some Moscow residents will be able to receive inoculation against coronavirus at 70 vaccination centres around the city from Saturday, with medical workers and teachers being the first in line to receive Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.

The capital's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, announced that online registration for the vaccine would start on Friday, two days after Russian president Vladimir Putin said 2 million doses of Sputnik V would soon be available and "large-scale" vaccination should begin by the end of next week.

The Moscow-based developers of Sputnik V say it is 95 per cent effective, and each of the required two doses of the vaccine will cost less than $10 (€8.22) on the international market, while being offered free in Russia. They have also brushed off concerns raised by some experts about how quickly the vaccine was registered, and about the relatively small sample size in trials and the transparency of trial data.