Denials Notwithstanding, Compulsory Vaccination against Covid Coming to Russia, Observers Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 12 – Despite Vladimir Putin’s opinion, publicist Kirill Shulika says, “compulsory vaccination has begun a march through the world and doctors are certain it will reach Russia,” most likely just after the Duma elections, in part because Russians who are infected are more likely to die than are their counterparts abroad (https://www.rosbalt.ru/posts/2021/08/12/1915853.html).

            Indeed, there is growing evidence that this spread of compulsory vaccination in Russia is already happening often in a “hybrid” fashion with those insisting  that others get the shots denying they are in any way using compulsion (newizv.ru/news/society/12-08-2021/delayte-privivku-eto-ne-obsuzhdaetsya-shest-istoriy-o-prinuzhdenii-k-vaktsinatsii).

            While Russian officials reported registering slightly fewer new infections (21,932) than in recent days, they did say that 808 Russian residents had died from the coronavirus over the previous 24 hours, the first time the daily death toll since the beginning of the pandemic has passed 800 (t.me/stopcoronavirusrussia/5550).

            The pandemic continues to ebb and flow across the Russian Federation with new infections, a leading indicator, falling in many places but deaths increasing, a lagging indicator (regnum.ru/news/society/3337040.html and regnum.ru/news/3342798.html). Some places are considering imposing draconian restrictions as a result (regnum.ru/news/3342860.html).

            Some experts are predicting a surge in cases in September as part of the third wave, while others are talking about the appearance of a fourth wave later this year (regnum.ru/news/3343025.html and regnum.ru/news/3343326.html).

At the same time, a very public debate has broken out about the lethality of the iota strain. Some say death rates from it are as high as 82 percent, but others suggest that such claims are ridiculous (regnum.ru/news/3342950.html and kp.ru/daily/28316/4458660/).

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

·         Russian performers saw their incomes drop by 46 percent between 2019 and 2020 because of the pandemic and restrictions on public spaces (regnum.ru/news/3342677.html).

·         Marriages, which many Russians put off last year because they could not have public celebrations, have surged with 40 percent more marriages taking place in their country this year between January and July than during the same period a year earlier (regnum.ru/news/3342688.html).

·         Russians on average are prepared to take a cut in their salaries of about ten percent if they are told to work at home, according to a new Superjob poll (rbc.ru/society/12/08/2021/6114153d9a7947a12ae93c85).