Page 41 - RusRPTJan21

2.14 ​Politics - misc
Russia became the first country to start mass vaccinations of its population on December 7​. Putin ordered Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova to begin mass vaccinations adding that more than 2mn doses are already available for distribution or can be ready in several days.
Only third of Russians are certainly ready to vaccinate against the coronavirus (COVID-19), while 44% are generally in favour of vaccination and 43% against, Vedomosti daily reported citing a survey by NARI pollster. As reported by ​bne IntelliNews​, ​Russia launched mass vaccination of the population with its domestic Sputnik V​ vaccine on December 7. The vaccine comes as most of the respondents in Russian regions are fatigued by the COVID epidemic. 56% on average see the situation in their respective region as critical (27%) or hard (29%). Nevertheless, 30% of the respondents are certain not to vaccinate against COVID, 24.5% are uncertain (11.4% rather would, and 13.2% rather would not). Notably, 56% believe that no recommendations would change their minds on vaccination. 13% are ready to listen to the President on the issue, 14% to their relatives, and 14% to their personal doctor.
The pharma unit of Russia's largest bank Sberbank Immonotekhnologii could become the sole supplier of COVID-19 vaccines in Russia​, Vedomosti​ daily reported on December 1 citing unnamed sources. As reported by​bneIntelliNews,​ Sberbankhassetupa​pharmaceuticaldivision Immotekhnologii (ImmunoTech) in May 2020​. Sberbank appointed Dmitry Efimov as the head of its new unit, a former executive of pharma players Nizhpgarma and Stada CIS. The company planned to develop and scale the production of COVID-19 vaccine currently developed in the national center of epidemiological and microbiological research.
Protests over the arrest of former Khabarovsk governor Sergei Furgal
continue in the Far-East. December 5 saw the 22nd consecutive weekly
rally ​in Khabarovsk, but with only 150 protesters showing up in the -10C
weather analyst say the protest is nearly over and failed score any victories.
The increasing repression from local authorities in recent weeks has helped,
with arrests ramping up as the movement itself dwindled. But the nail in the
coffin could be the diminishing interest from the rest of Russia. According to a
new ​
poll by the Levada Center​
, a mere 3% of respondents mentioned the
Khabarovsk protests as one of the events they had heard about in November.
According to a new law if a person or an organization is recognized as a foreign agent in Russia, media outlets will be expected to say so in their coverage. ​Much in the same way that currently, journalists in Russia have to indicate when they are writing about an organization that
41 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ January 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com