Page 71 - bne_July 2021_20210602

bne July 2021
Opinion 71
COMMENT:
Russia hits herd hostility to vaccines as COVID rages
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
Russia has hit herd hostility to vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19), with a majority of people dead set against taking any of its available jabs – even as the country grapples with a third wave of the pandemic.
After arriving back in Moscow last month from an enforced one-year exile in Ireland, I assumed most of my friends, relatives and contacts would already have been vaccinated. After all, Russia has endured almost 18 months of the coronavirus with nearly 5.1mn officially confirmed cases and more than 120,000 deaths. The country’s total excess fatality count, regarded as a much more reliable indicator of the human cost, stands at a staggering total of 460,000 deaths.
However, distrust of Russia’s vaccines has mutated wildly in the zeitgeist by people regurgitating half-baked conspiracy theories. A survey by independent pollsters the Levada Centre in May indicated 62% of Russians are unwilling to get vaccinated, while 55% are not afraid of contracting the virus.
Vaccination in Moscow has now come to a near standstill, slowing to 2,500-3,500 a day against 10,000 previously, according to data compiled by the Russian-language news site Meduza.
The city is now back on lockdown and dedicated coronavirus hospitals have reopened as the number of daily cases rose to 13,510 on June 11, up from a recent low of 8,000. Half of those cases are in Moscow alone (6,701) – the highest daily number since January.
Given the spike in infection rates, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin ordered a curfew for bars and restaurants from 11pm, closed playgrounds and parks and ordered stricter compliance with mask and glove rules. He has also imposed a week of paid non-work starting on June 12 to try to reverse the climb of the infection rates.
To reach 60% of the population by September, it needs to be closer to 50,000. Overall, 12% of the country has now received
Russia produced the first vaccine and started the mass immunisation programme well ahead of any other country, yet Moscow has the lowest levels of vaccinations of any major European capital. The Russians don't want Sputnik V.
at least one shot and, at that rate, Russia won’t hit herd immunity until the end of 2022.
Back home in Dublin, people have been falling over themselves to take any injection. Ireland this week finally emerged from Europe’s longest and harshest lockdown with pubs, restaurants and hotels finally re-opening after a six- month hiatus. With 53% of the country having received at least one shot, the hospitals have emptied, and the death rate has almost disappeared.
“Vaccination in Moscow has now come to a near standstill, slowing to 2,500-3,500 a day against 10,000 previously”
The influential British medical journal The Lancet confirmed the Russian drug was safe and had an efficacy rate of over 91% in February but that didn’t move the dial at home in Russia. Elsewhere, it triggered a global clamour for the Russian vaccine. Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister and
a former doctor, said in February he was in favour of adding Sputnik V to the nation’s jabs programme, joining a chorus of other European leaders seeking to acquire the vaccine.
After arriving back in Russia in early May, my family and I were anxious to get the Russian vaccine in to resume a normal life. In Ireland, we had endured a strict lockdown and were amazed by the almost bacchanalian openness of Moscow society and the disregard for social distancing, mask wearing – as well as the low take-up of vaccines.
Vaccine phobia is rife in Russia across age and socio-economic groups and the authorities only have themselves to blame.
www.bne.eu