Western Intelligence Agencies Behind Anti-Vaxxer Attitudes in Russia, Onishchenko Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 9 – Western intelligence agencies are behind the anti-vaxxer campaign in Russia and are thus to blame for low vaccination rates and rising infections and deaths from the coronavirus, according to United Russia deputy and doctor Gennady Onishchenko. In this sphere, he says, “Russia is losing the information war” (regnum.ru/news/3317799.html).

            Today, Russian officials reported registering 25,766 new cases of infection and 726 new deaths from the coronavirus, as numbers in the regions and republics increased relative to those in the capitals (t.me/COVID2019_official/3252, regnum.ru/news/society/3315953.html, regnum.ru/news/3317950.html and regnum.ru/news/3317914.html).

            Mortality rates are rising relative to all cases, and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin says that the situation even in his city is deteriorating in many respects and even “for many residents there, mortally dangerous” (regnum.ru/news/3318322.html and regnum.ru/news/3318292.html). The city also said it had distributed some three million QR cards (regnum.ru/news/3317920.html).

            On the vaccine front, Moscow said that “almost 30 million” Russians have now been vaccinated, with the Kremlin saying that it would be pleased if everyone would get the shots and that opposing vaccinations is socially “irresponsible” (regnum.ru/news/3317912.html, regnum.ru/news/3317872.html and regnum.ru/news/3317862.html).

            At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that vaccinating everyone would be a very difficult thing to achieve even if it would be good for the country (regnum.ru/news/3318255.html; cf. demands for support of a more massive vaccination effort business-gazeta.ru/article/515306).

            Two other important developments about the Russian vaccination effort were reported today: On the one hand, medical officials said that Russians could delay the second shot by as much as 180 days, something that will likely mean that many won’t get it at all and that infections will thus be more likely to go up (regnum.ru/news/3318173.html).

            And on the other, Kremlin claims to the contrary, there are still reports from the regions that some of them have run out of vaccine and been forced to suspend their inoculation programs (regnum.ru/news/3317621.html).

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

·         A Moscow Times investigation has found that Russia is using a member of the Dubai ruling family to push the sale of the Sputnik-5 vaccine in Asia and Africa (themoscowtimes.com/2021/07/09/a-royal-mark-up-how-an-emirati-sheikh-resells-millions-of-russian-vaccines-to-the-developing-world-a74461).

·         Since the start of the pandemic, 12 percent of Russian media outlets have gone out of business, the government says (trtrussian.com/novosti-rossiya/s-nachala-pandemii-12-rossijskih-smi-lishilis-licenzii-5998107).

·         Some Bashkirs want to rewrite their republic constitution to include a provision making individuals responsible for their health (regnum.ru/news/3317581.html).

·         In a horrific case, Tyumen doctors hide the death of a grandmother from coronavirus for 22 days from her relatives. Her body was sent to the morgue but doctors said she was still being treated for the coronavirus (znak.com/2021-07-09/v_tyumeni_mediki_skryli_ot_semi_smert_babushki_ona_prolezhala_22_dnya_v_morge).

·         The refusal of Russians to be vaccinated is not just a problem of public health; it is a crisis in their political system because it reflects the collapse of public confidence in the regime, Kseniya Kirillova says (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=60E8B1B494981).