Russian Cosmonauts, Training Center Staffers Receive Sputnik V COVID-19 Shots, Roscosmos Says

According to Roscosmos, cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Nikolay Chub were the first to be vaccinated with Sputnik V in the corps of 30 people.

"The test cosmonauts underwent a preliminary medical examination, which is mandatory before immunization. Several other employees of the [Cosmonaut Training] Center, who directly interact with the cosmonauts during training, also received the first component of the two-component vaccine," the agency said in a statement.

In September, the International Space Station (ISS)-64 commander, Sergey Ryzhikov, said the flight crew of the expedition to the ISS would not be vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of their liftoff in October.

The Cosmonaut Training Center, together with the cosmonaut corps, is one of the first enterprises in the space industry to take part in a large-scale vaccination against coronavirus in Russia.