Paul
Goble
Staunton, September 9 – In a move certain
to spark more concerns about the safety and reliability of the Russian vaccine
and to depress the willingness of people to get it, Putin’s press spokesman
Dmitry Peskov says the Kremlin leader hasn’t yet made any plans to be
inoculated (finanz.ru/novosti/aktsii/putin-ne-stal-privivatsya-rossiyskoy-vakcinoy-ot-covid-1029572836).
In the same briefing, Peshkov lashed
out at Western criticism of the Russian vaccine as featured in The Lancet,
saying that Moscow “always very negatively responds to attempts to politicize”
research (regnum.ru/news/3058196.html).
Russian medical experts were more restrained: they said such criticism is a
normal part of science (regnum.ru/news/3057801.html).
Today, officials announced, Moscow
began the third phase of clinical trials normally required before a vaccine or
other medication can be approved for use. In the Russian case, the vaccine is
being given to people without that final testing, an approach that has raised
questions about the medications’ safety and effectiveness (regnum.ru/news/3058209.html).
Flu vaccinations are already
beginning in Russia, but officials warn that foreign vaccines, on which
Russians have relied in past years, won’t be available this year until later in
the fall because of Russia’s counter-sanctions efforts (regnum.ru/news/3058593.html and rbc.ru/society/09/09/2020/5f576ce99a7947d7b6c14bca).
The central staff attracted
attention today because for the fourth day in a row infections have increased
and the mortality rate has jumped as well. In the last 24 hours, officials say
that 5218 new cases were registered, bringing that total to 1,041,007 and 147
new deaths were recorded, upping that total to 18,135 (t.me/COVID2019_official/1459).
The uptick reflects in).creased social activity in
Russia, medical experts say (regnum.ru/news/3058450.html), and they add that the numbers of infections and
deaths could rise in the coming weeks to where they were last spring (regnum.ru/news/3058496.html)
with no serious declines until next summer (regnum.ru/news/3058496.html).
But
even more worrisome, a new study has concluded that Russia has suffered “about
60,000” deaths from the coronavirus pandemic than the 18,000 the central staff
has been reporting. That conclusion is based on Rosstat statistics rather than
on any model, Yevgeny Chernyshov says (nakanune.ru/news/2020/9/9/22583299/).
Possibly for these reasons, Russians
don’t accept the upbeat statements of their leaders. According to a new ROMIR
poll, 64 percent do not think the pandemic has ended. Only 24 percent agree
with the Kremlin that it can be spoken of in the past tense (regnum.ru/news/3057822.html).
The pandemic is continuing with ebbs
and flows and openings and closings across the country. Schools are being
closed in some places, but visits to prisoners are now being allowed in others
and in the few remaining places with compulsory self-isolation regimes,
restrictions are being eased (regnum.ru/news/society/3057754.html,
regnum.ru/news/3057818.html and regnum.ru/news/3057987.html).
On the economic front, there were
mixed messages. Moscow city officials said that the economy within the city had
been “completely restored” (regnum.ru/news/3058743.html),
but the government announced plans for more assistance to families whose
breadwinners have lost their jobs because of the crisis (regnum.ru/news/3057886.html).
Meanwhile, in other pandemic-related
developments in Russia today,
·
The
Russian government is suing a company whose ventilators ignited while being
used harming patients (regnum.ru/news/3058323.html).
·
Moscow
has signed an agreement to send 32 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to
Mexico (regnum.ru/news/3058291.html).
·
And
the pandemic has claimed another victim: Putin will not hold in his direct line
call in show this year because of the coronavirus (tass.ru/politika/9405553).
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