![]() She lives in Finland and says that Russians there – and in nearby Estonia – have some of the lowest vaccination rates.Īfter years of studying online groups of Russian vaccine-deniers of all stripes, she concluded that they believe that “globalists – like octopus’s tentacles – have reached Russia, and that they should be kicked out of the government.” “Perhaps, it is one of the factors, but it’s hardly a priority,” Elena Savinova, who runs the popular blog, told Al Jazeera. However, an outspoken vaccine advocate disagrees with this simple explanation. This is a diagnosis of the current model of ruling the country and the relationship between the government and the public,” medical expert Pyotr Talantov wrote in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.Īccording to Denis Volkov, Levada’s director, “distrust” towards the president and his government in most cases means unwillingness to get vaccinated. “What’s happening is not about anti-vaxxers. For centuries, Russians distrusted their authoritarian rulers, and passive resistance to coercion often remained the only form of protest. Some experts blame the collective mentality. ![]() And they protest against these campaigns not openly, but by sabotaging them,” Pavel Luzin, a Russia-based expert with the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera. “They are not against vaccination, they’re against bureaucratic campaigns. Why are so many concerned about the vaccine backed by Putin? Since the pandemic began, Russia has recorded almost 5.5 million infections and some 133,000 deaths. At least 611 died, including a record 124 in Moscow. On Monday, 21,650 new cases were confirmed, the highest number since January, more than a third of them in Moscow. Meanwhile, the more infectious Delta variant sets new records in the nation of 143 million. Only 13 percent of Russians have received both jabs – compared with more than half of Americans and 87 percent of Icelanders. Two more vaccines were developed in Russia by research facilities that once helped pioneer enormous vaccination campaigns in the USSR and dozens of nations.īut Russia remains dramatically under-vaccinated. “It is just as reliable as Kalashnikov assault rifles,” Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted in May. This is especially surprising given that Sputnik V was the world’s first registered COVID-19 vaccine, and has been supplied to nations from Mongolia to Brazil. ![]() She lives in seclusion in her summer house outside Moscow planting zucchini, raspberries and flowers, binge-watching TV series or spending hours on the phone with her friends – most of whom are also hesitant about the vaccine.Ī staggering 62 percent of Russians do not want to get vaccinated, and 56 percent are not afraid of getting the virus, according to a survey by the Levada Center pollster conducted in April. Instead, she tries to stay away from people. I don’t want to be a guinea pig,” Kulchina, a grandmother, told Al Jazeera. The 72-year-old, an ex-nurse, says that the Russia-made Sputnik V vaccine was developed “suspiciously quickly”, although she admits that her knowledge of virology is not “professional”. Anastasiya Kulchina refuses to get vaccinated against COVID. ![]()
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