Russian President Russian Vladimir Putin says he received his second shot of a Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday.

“Right now, just before entering this room, I also got the second vaccination [shot],” Putin said during a live videoconference at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society.

Putin also expressed hope that the pandemic will soon subside and encouraged the public to follow his lead in taking up the vaccine.

“I hope that everything will be okay. Not even hoping – I'm sure of it. And [I] wish you the same, based on the fact that you, taking care of your close ones, will do the same and will follow my lead,” Putin said.

On March 23, the Russian leader received his first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine without releasing any images or video of the process — or revealing which vaccine he had taken.

The Kremlin said at the time that the type of vaccine that was used would not be publicized, but said that it was one of the approved Russian vaccines.

Russia became the first country in the world to approve a Covid-19 vaccine in August 2020 when it authorized the use of its homegrown vaccine, Sputnik V.