Moscow Wants Regions to Inoculate 30 Percent of Residents But hasn’t Provided Them with Enough Vaccine

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 12 – The Russian government has called on regional leaders to ensure that they inoculate “no fewer than 30 percent” of the residents of their territories, but as of now, the regions have not been provided with enough vaccine to do that (meduza.io/feature/2020/12/12/federalnye-vlasti-rekomendovali-regionam-privit-ne-menshe-30-zhiteley-no-neizvestno-hvatit-li-na-eto-vaktsiny).

            Moreover, by suggesting that governors will be judged on whether or not they meet that requirement, Moscow has reopened the possibility that some officials may use compulsion to push the numbers up even though that is prohibited by Russian law, as some in the capital have reminded today (ura.news/news/1052462874).

            But while the regions are still not getting enough medication, Moscow is beginning to get additional supplies that officials there say will allow them to extend the vaccination to groups lower down on the list of those at risk, including government, trade, and cultural workers (echo.msk.ru/blog/ssobyanin/2756320-echo/).

            Today, the Russian government registered 28,585 new cases of infection and 613 new deaths (t.me/COVID2019_official/2156 ) as the pandemic continued to ebb and flow across the Russian Federation (regnum.ru/news/society/3137671.html). St. Petersburg received the most media attention for its continued raids on bars and restaurants (regnum.ru/news/3140019.html).

            Medical experts said that the Sputnik-5 vaccine would be effective for “about two years,” while in an effort to get more people to get the shots, other doctors continued their reports about unwanted side effects of the disease, today saying that those who are infected by the coronavirus may lose their hair (regnum.ru/news/3140073.html and regnum.ru/news/3139849.html).

            Economist and former Duma member Ivan Grachev says that Russians are going to need help from the government to overcome the impact of the pandemic for at least six more months but notes that government officials are increasingly unwilling to extend it to the population (business-gazeta.ru/article/492077).

            Meanwhile, in other pandemic-related developments in Russia today,

·         Medical experts called on young people to observe restrictions because while they may not suffer as much as others, they are more active and can spread the pandemic to their elders (versia.ru/za-poslednie-sutki-v-rf-diagnostirovali-28137-sluchaev-zabolevaniya-covid-19-i-zafiksirovali-560-smertej).

·         Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin says China’s anti-pandemic measures work well but that he has no intention of applying them in his city (rbc.ru/society/12/12/2020/5fd4a6ca9a794703d980e15c).

·         Russian analysts say that the pandemic will have no long-term impact on economic integration in Eurasia (ritmeurasia.org/news--2020-12-12--pandemija-integraciju-na-evrazijskom-prostranstve-ostanovit-ne-v-sostojanii-52335).