| Russian President Vladimir Putin, 68, got his first coronavirus shot last week, seven months after announcing to the world that Russia would register the first vaccine to fight the global pandemic. The Kremlin has said his example should help boost the low vaccination rate in Russia, which remains far short of the targets set when Putin ordered the start of a nationwide distribution campaign in December. The move comes amid accusations that Russia is pushing a political agenda with exports of its Sputnik V vaccine before making sure its own population is protected against Covid-19. French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called Russia's Sputnik V "more of tool for propaganda and aggressive diplomacy than a means of solidarity and health support" in and interview with France Info radio on March 26. "Russia and China are leading a policy of influence via the vaccine even before they vaccinate their own people," he said.  People queue outside a vaccination center inside the GUM luxury department store in Moscow. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg Russia counters that it plans to outsource much of the production and has announced a raft of Sputnik V agreements globally in recent weeks, including deals to make over 650 million doses with several Indian companies. Earlier this week, Sputnik developer the Russian Direct Investment Fund said China's Shenzhen Yuanxing Gene-tech Co. will make over 60 million doses, with the commercial output starting in May. Russia has repeatedly denied using its vaccine for political purposes, saying uptake at home is low is slow because it's voluntary and people are suspicious about vaccination in general. At the start of the year, the health authorities hoped to provide the first shot of the two-dose program to over 20 million people by the end of March. So far only about 6.3 million, or 4.3% of the population, have started the process. The Kremlin declined to say which of Russia's three approved vaccines Putin received and isn't making any photos or videos available. "As for getting vaccinated on camera, he's never been a fan of that," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call March 23. That explanation set off a small social media frenzy given such well-known—and often spoofed photos—of Putin riding horseback or touring Moscow's first Covid-19 hospital in a yellow-hazmat suit. Putin has told officials they must vaccinate nearly 70 million people to reach herd immunity, a target they aim to reach this summer. It's not clear how that will be achieved. A decline in new infections in Russia to below 10,000 cases a day from a peak of nearly 30,000 in late December and the government's avoidance of a lockdown during the second wave of the epidemic may have fostered a sense of complacency, even as neighbors in Europe fight a new wave and new variants of the virus. A February poll by the independent Levada Center found 62% of respondents wouldn't take Sputnik V, the most since the question was introduced in August. More than half said they weren't afraid of getting Covid-19—the highest in a year—even as Russia has recorded more than 200,000 deaths linked to the virus, among the most globally after the U.S. and Brazil.—Jake Rudnitsky and Torrey Clark | 
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