Russia became the first country to begin a mass COVID-19 vaccination programme on 5 December 2020,[2] starting with primarily doctors, medical workers and teachers.

[9] The previous day, the Association of Clinical Research Organisations, a union of pharmaceutical companies in Russia, urged the head of the Ministry of Health to delay the registration due to incomplete testing.

[13] On 8 September 2020, the health ministry's press service said that the first batches of the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Centre had entered civilian circulation.

[24] On 10 December 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova announced that approximately 6.9 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will enter civilian circulation in Russia before the end of February 2021.

[30] On 14 April 2021, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that around 820,000 Muscovites had been fully vaccinated, out of a population of 12 million.

[33] On 21 May 2021, Mayor of Moscow Sobyanin decried low demand for vaccines, despite free and easy access to them since January.

[37] By 22 June, compulsory vaccinations were also decided in a number of other regions aside from Moscow and Moscow Oblast, including the city of St. Petersburg, the Sakha Republic, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Leningrad, Tula, Kemerovo, Sakhalin and Tver oblasts, and Krasnodar Krai.

[41] A survey by the SuperJob.ru job portal published on 16 May found that 42% of Russian respondents would not get vaccinated under any circumstances.

[42] Public scepticism continues to exist despite Russian and Western sources detailing the positive efficacy of the vaccine.