Sputnik V Twitter feed raises prospect of vaccine tourism to Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is working on a program to give people abroad the opportunity to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in Russia with its Sputnik V shot from July, according to the vaccine’s official Twitter account.

Authorities so far have been skeptical about launching a program that will allow foreigners to travel to Russia for the vaccine, saying it needs to focus on its own people.

The two-shot vaccine is available in Russia for its own citizens or for foreigners who have a residence permit or a temporary residence permit.

“Sputnik V vaccination in Russia! Who is on board?” The official English-language account of the recording wrote on Twitter on Thursday, posting a photo of people next to an airplane with Sputnik written on it.

It invited Twitter users to follow its account, saying, “Our social media followers will be the first to be invited to receive #SputnikVaccicated in Russia at the beginning of the program.”

“We are working on starting this program in July,” it said.

The Russian RDIF sovereign wealth fund, which markets Sputnik V worldwide and operates the Twitter account, declined to elaborate on it.

An RDIF representative said the fund would provide further details when such a program is launched.

“Call me Laika and get me on board in this Sputnik!” One person replied to the tweets, referring to the first Russian dog in space. Some expressed doubts about the idea because of the pace of the vaccination program in Russia.

Russia had made 20.1 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine by March 17, while 4.3 million people out of 144 million had received both shots since December.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko previously ruled out the idea of ​​foreigners traveling to Russia to get the shot while the country is vaccinating its own people.

“The priority for us is vaccinating Russian citizens … We are not currently working on vaccination tourism,” said Murashko’s aide Alexei Kuznetsov.

(Reporting by Polina Nikolskaya; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Barbara Lewis)