Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Friday lamented how few residents had chosen to get vaccinated against COVID-19 despite free and easy access to shots since January, a rare admission by a Russian politician of the extent of the problem.

Hospitals in the Russian capital continue to be packed with sick and dying people, Sobyanin said, despite vaccines against the disease being widely available for almost six months.

"It is remarkable...People are getting sick, they continue to get sick, they continue to die. And yet they still don't want to get vaccinated," Sobyanin said in comments made at a meeting with activists last week but published in a blog post on Friday.

Russia was the first country in the world to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for domestic use, prior to the start of large-scale trials. Roll-out of the Sputnik V shot began in December and in the capital was rapidly opened up to all.

Since the start of this year, all that a Moscow resident needed to do to get a vaccine was show up at a clinic with their ID.