The majority of Russians (62%) are still not ready to be vaccinated with their country’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center published Wednesday.
The results are the latest sign that Russians are largely still skeptical of the domestically-produced vaccine amid Russia’s attempts to boost its slower-than-hoped vaccination campaign.
According to Levada, a quarter of respondents (26%) are ready to be vaccinated, a slightly lower percentage than in February (30%).
Levada’s results also revealed an age gap in willingness to be vaccinated, with only 12% of Russians aged 18-24 years old saying they are ready to be vaccinated compared to the 37% of over-55s.
Meanwhile, 10% of respondents said that they have already been vaccinated.
More than half of Russians (56%) said they are not afraid of contracting coronavirus — a sharp rise from the 34% who said the same last year.
Russia has been one of the hardest-hit countries amid the pandemic with over 420,000 excess deaths and nearly 4.9 million cases.
While Russia has touted Sputnik V as the world's first approved coronavirus vaccine and it has been authorized for use in over 60 countries worldwide, the jab has been met with cool reception at home. At its current pace, Russia is on track to vaccinate 70% of its population by February 2023.
Levada conducted the survey among 1,614 respondents from 50 regions between April 22-April 28.
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