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Russians resist pressure to get vaccinated even as Covid-19 cases surge

Seemingly lost for an explanation of why vaccine uptake is so low in Russia when coronavirus infections are soaring and vaccines are readily available, the Kremlin resorted on Friday to complaining of “nihilism”.

Five months into the campaign, and a growing battery of threats as well as incentives, by June 2 only 18 million Russians had received at least one dose of vaccine.

Vaccinations are even available in department stores. But at just one-eighth of the population, that figure, the most recent available, is far lower than in most Western countries.

The hold-outs have proved impervious not only to cash payments and chances to win a car or even an apartment, but also to loss of earnings and threats of dismissal.

And unlike most countries, Russia is not short of vaccines, having approved four domestically made shots, and finding willing buyers around the world for the most widely available, Sputnik V.

The city of Moscow, where daily infections hit an all-time high on Friday, this week took one of the most radical steps anywhere by making vaccination compulsory for all service sector workers. On Friday, it said people who had not been vaccinated would be refused non-emergency hospital treatment.

Fear and suspicion

Russians often cite a general fear of new medical products as their reason for refusing the vaccination – not helped by a general distrust of authorities and negative media reports about foreign-made vaccines – and the fact that more than 5 million people have already been infected and developed resistance.

Peskov rejected the idea that distrust was pervasive, blaming the surge on the low vaccination level, the virus’s mutations, and “total nihilism”.

But the hesitancy is a fact.

“This product is the most in-demand in the world right now,” said the head of one Russian vaccine manufacturer…..read more

 

Source: France24

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