Question: I was looking at vaccination rates across countries and noticed that very little Russia’s population is vaccinated.  Given how early Russia was to develop its vaccine, I was surprised.  Why are so few Russians vaccinated?

Answer: According to OurWorldinData, only 7.6% of Russians have been fully vaccinated, and at least 73 countries have higher vaccination rates (Figure).  Given how early Russia was to introduce its Sputnik V vaccine (see Q&A of 4/20/21), I was also surprised to see how lagging its vaccination efforts have been.  There are many potential reasons for this slow roll-out, including issues related to vaccine acceptance/hesitancy.  One challenge has implications not only for Russia but for the world– reported issues with vaccine manufacturing.  According to Reuters, as of 12 May 2021, Russia had produced just 33 million total vaccines (e.g. 66 million doses) and exported fewer than 15 million vaccines.  For comparison, Pfizer makes >5 million vaccines/week (e.g. >10 million doses) for the US alone.  As further described by Reuters, Sputnik’s manufacturing challenges are many and highlight multiple difficulties, including and beyond supplies and equipment. And since Sputnik is composed of two different types of adenovirus vectors, the manufacturing process is even more complex.  As the CEO of the Russian pharmaceutical company Pharmasyntez told Reuters,”We can buy equipment, we can build plants. But in biotechnology, competent people [are] the most important thing. And there are not very many of them.”  Given the role that Russia has been playing in vaccine diplomacy, these reported manufacturing set-backs could have major implications for vaccination supply in numerous countries around the world.     

Figure. Proportion of population vaccinated by country (from OurWorldInData)