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Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout draws wary, mixed response

Associated Press

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A Russian medical worker administers a shot of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics in the first days of the rollout. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Medical workers transport a patient suspected of having coronavirus at a hospital in Zakamensk, Russia, in the Buryatia region on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Russia has recorded more than 2.7 million cases of COVID-19, and over 48,000 deaths. (AP Photo/Anna Ogorodnik)
School teacher Dzhamilya Kryazheva leads a remote lesson in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. Kryazheva says she doesn't want to get vaccinated because the shots approved in Russia were rushed out. "I don't intend to experiment on my body. I have three children," she said. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Medical workers transport a patient suspected of having coronavirus from an ambulance helicopter to a hospital outside Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Russian region of Buryatia, on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Russia has recorded more than 2.7 million cases of COVID-19, and over 48,000 deaths. (AP Photo/Anna Ogorodnik)
Dr. Marina Pecherkina, an infectious disease specialist, speaks to a patient in the Far East city of Vladivostok, Russia, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. Pecherkina works in a coronavirus hospital and got vaccinated with Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, in October. She says it was an easy decision: "People are dying here every day. Every day, we carry out corpses. What's there to think about?" (AP Photo/Aleksander Khitrov )
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova speaks to the media in Moscow on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. Kremlin officials and state-controlled media touted the Russian-developed vaccine against COVID-19 as a major achievement, but among Russians, hopes that the shot would reverse the course of the health crisis has become mixed with wariness and skepticism, reflecting concerns about how it was rushed out. (Dmitry Astakhov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Journalists meet with patients given Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in a hospital in Vladivostok, Russia, on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics in the first days of the rollout. (AP Photo/Aleksander Khitrov)
A vial with Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in a medical room rests on a table prior to a vaccination in Moscow on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics that offered the shot to health care workers and teachers the first members of the public designated to receive it. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
A Russian medical worker finishes the procedure after administering a shot of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics that offered the shot to health care workers and teachers the first members of the public designated to receive it. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
A Russian medical worker, center, shows a vial with Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to the media prior to a shot in a hospital in Vladivostok, Russia, on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics that offered the shot to health care workers and teachers the first members of the public designated to receive it. (AP Photo/Aleksander Khitrov )
FILE - In this file photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics that offered the shot to health care workers and teachers the first members of the public designated to receive it. (Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
A Russian medical worker prepares a shot of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics that offered the shot to health care workers and teachers the first members of the public designated to receive it. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
A medical worker stands at an intensive care unit of a hospital in Vladivostok, Russia, on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. Russia has recorded more than 2.7 million cases of COVID-19, and over 48,000 deaths. (AP Photo/Aleksander Khitrov)
Dr. Yevgenia Alexeyeva, an infectious disease specialist stands in front of the door of "Contagious Area" at a hospital in the Siberian city of Tomsk , Russia, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. Alexeyeva tested positive for the coronavirus 12 days after receiving the second shot of a Russian-made vaccine, Sputnik V, but it didn't shake her confidence in the serum. "The vaccine doesn't guarantee that the person wouldn't get infected. But it should protect us from developing a severe case (of COVID-19)," she said. (AP Photo/Yakov Andreyev)
Dr. Anastasia Vasilyeva of the Alliance of Doctors union speaks during her interview with The Associated Press in Moscow on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. Vasilyeva says the authorities rushed the approval and the rollout of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, undermining people's trust in it. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

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A Russian medical worker administers a shot of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics in the first days of the rollout. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)