Russian President Vladimir Putin examines military aircraft flying over the Kremlin and Red Square to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II in Moscow on May 9, 2020.
Alexey Druzhinin | AFP | Getty Images
President Vladimir Putin ruled Russia will not make Covid vaccines mandatory for its citizens, saying people should see the need to vaccinate for themselves.
Some officials in Russia had suggested making vaccination compulsory, but Putin said Wednesday that such a move would be “counterproductive”.
During a video conference on the economy, Putin said officials had analyzed options, including compulsory vaccination for the entire population or for workers in specific sectors who come into contact with large numbers of people, Russian news agency Tass reported.
This could have made Covid recordings mandatory for people who work in areas such as retail, education, or transportation. Putin said he did not approve of such a move.
“In my opinion, it is counterproductive and unnecessary to introduce compulsory vaccinations,” he said. “People should recognize this need for themselves” and understand that without a vaccine they “may be at very serious and even fatal danger”, especially the elderly.
Putin urged the public to get vaccinated, stressing that Russian Sputnik V vaccine is safe.
“I want to emphasize again and address all of our citizens: think carefully, remember that the Russian vaccine – practice has already shown that millions (of people) have used it – is currently the most reliable and safest,” said Putin. “All the conditions for vaccination have been created in our country.”
Vaccine hesitate
Despite the pleas from the President and other senior officials and the establishment of walk-in vaccination centers in shopping malls in major cities, Russia has found that much of its population is unwilling to receive a Covid shot.
Some officials have tried more unusual means of persuading those who hesitate. Moscow is offering free ice cream to everyone who has been vaccinated in Red Square and buying vouchers or gift cards worth 1,000 rubles (about $ 13.60) for retirees. Some Russian regions have reportedly offered cash incentives to get the shot.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has openly expressed his frustration at the slow response to vaccinations.
“It’s remarkable … people get sick, they keep getting sick, they keep dying. And yet they don’t want to get vaccinated,” Sobyanin said in comments posted on a video blog on Friday and reported by Reuters.
“We were the first big city in the world to announce the start of mass vaccination. And what?” Sobyanin said. “The percentage of people vaccinated in Moscow is lower than in any European city. In some cases, many times over.”
He noted that so far only 1.3 million people in Moscow had received a shot from a population of 12 million.
As of Wednesday, just over 11% of the Russian population had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to Our World In Data. This is comparable to the rate in India, which has also struggled to get its vaccination program off the ground due to production problems, but is lagging behind other major economies. For example, the UK has given at least one dose to over 70% of its population.
The home of Sputnik V.
That frustration is more palpable in Russia because it was one of the first countries in the world to approve a Covid vaccine last August. Initially, there were concerns about the safety and efficacy data of Sputnik V, particularly when Russia approved the shot prior to the completion of clinical trials, which aroused suspicion in the international scientific community.
However, the Sputnik V vaccine was found to be 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing Covid-19. This is evident from the peer-reviewed results of its late-stage clinical study published in The Lancet Medical Journal in February.
Even so, a poll published in March by Russian polling station Levada found that 62% of people did not want to receive the vaccine, with 18- to 24-year-olds showing the greatest reluctance.
