Speaking on Russian state TV at the time, Putin said his daughter had a slightly higher temperature after each dose of the two-stage coronavirus vaccine, but that “now she feels better.”
Before the crucial Phase 3 human trial ends, Russian officials will train teachers – as well as doctors – as key workers, who will receive access to the first vaccine.
But this has not diminished well with some sections of frontline workers who do not buy Putin’s claim of vaccine effectiveness and are reluctant to use it as human guinea pigs.
On September 1, Russian classrooms reopened for the first time since March amid the Kovid-19 epidemic – the same day the country surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases. Teachers were to be among the first to benefit from Russia’s new coronavirus vaccine, especially in close contact with the hundreds of children they come in contact with on a daily basis. But CNN is learning that few – if any – have been vaccinated.
The Sputnik-V vaccine, developed by the Moscow-based Gamalia Institute, was named by the Soviet Union after the astonishing name of the world’s first satellite in 1957.
Russia’s claim of victory, the first to allow the coronavirus vaccine in a worldwide epidemic, initially raised widespread concerns and unanswered questions about its safety and effectiveness, not just from outside the country.
The Russian Teachers Union, “Uchitel”, launched a petition online petition, in which members called for a complete denial of the vaccine on the grounds of safety, and expressed concern that the vaccine – currently voluntary – should not be made mandatory until a clinical trial is completed. .
Reality may differ from promises
Yuri Verlamov, a teacher in Moscow and a member of the union, said he did not want to take the vaccine because he did not believe it was safe.
“Before the tests are completed, they can’t make it mandatory. But I know that in some schools and state institutions, people are talking about the mandatory status of this vaccine by the end of this year,” Vermalov said.
Marina Baloieva, co-chair of the Uchitel union, said the application against compulsory vaccination to teachers was a matter of precaution.
Balueva said he is wary of Sputnik-V for many reasons. “First, it is generally known that the quality of domestic vaccines is worse than that of foreign ones.”
“Second, this vaccine was made at the speed of the railway, which is already a cause for concern. It was made in a hurry.”
Despite promises by officials that vaccination would be voluntary, he said he feared that in reality things could happen differently, as often happens in Russian state institutions.
Balueva said teachers have been forced to vaccinate him, saying no complaints have been made to his union so far. However, previous experience suggests that similar problems have occurred with other vaccines, he says.
For example, officially, seasonal flu shots are not mandatory for Russian educational workers – they are voluntary. But according to Balueva some schools require it from their staff without fail.
Whether there will be restrictions on people not willing to be vaccinated by Sputnik-V depends on the headteacher. Most schools have so-called “incentive bonuses” – funds that the administration can distribute as they see fit. If some teachers do not get vaccinated, they may be deprived of this payment.
Balooiva is aware of all the consequences after which you go against the school administration.
After 15 years of successful work as an English teacher at a correction school for children with cerebral palsy in St. Petersburg, Balueva says he was fired last year for “unexplained absences” for not working during the school holidays.
It happened shortly after the teachers’ salaries were raised in public, lower than the figures published in official documents.
“Teachers are a very disadvantaged class just like doctors,” the former teacher said, adding that the temptation to test vaccines on them is immense. “It’s both affordable and practical – why not do it from an officer’s point of view?”
CNN was admitted to Moscow’s top public schools by local officials, where some measures – such as testing and teachers in facemasks – have been implemented.
But no one spoke to CNN at school in 1363. They said they had received the vaccine, although they said they would do so “definitely” soon. Deputy Head Maria Ztolokina said: “I think every teacher understands the importance of staying safe and creating a safe environment for our students to stay healthy. That’s why I hope we are responsible people, and we should [all] Get vaccinated. ”
Political pressure
Critics such as Russian doctor Anastasia Vasilyeva say the country’s pressure for the vaccine comes amid political pressure from the Kremlin, which is an ally of Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny and wants to portray Russia as a global scientific power. Navalny is currently being treated at a hospital in Berlin after a suspected poisoning attempt in Siberia last month.
“I think it’s to show that Russia is a big strong country, that Putin is a big strong president,” Vasilyeva told CNN.
His colleague, a surgeon at a hospital in northeastern Moscow, did not strictly share his concerns about the vaccine with CNN, fearing he would face resistance at work if he came out in public about the vaccine. When he was vaccinated in early August, he began seeking expert advice.
“I’m not a vaccine specialist,” he admits. “So, I called the doctors who treated the vaccine, I called the immunologist. They said, ‘Don’t do that, the vaccine is not raw in any way.’
It was a friendly offer fur, he says, no pressure, no responsibility. But no matter how the deputy chief physician tried to convince the surgeon that the vaccine was “perfectly normal, good, surprising,” the doctor was still hesitant to try it on his own.
“Explain to me: how can such powerful European and international organizations not do it, but a relatively small Gamaliya organization can do it? I don’t understand it,” the surgeon said.
He did not know when his vaccine would be delivered to his hospital, but said many of his colleagues would have dared to deny it.
“Totalitarianism remains [in Russia]. The two most vulnerable areas are education and health care. Everything here is done by force. I got the flu last year, everyone was told they needed to be vaccinated. And everyone did it, because if you don’t you will be fine. ”
But it’s not just doctors and teachers who have expressed concern that Russia may have cut corners on development.
The poll indicates that as many as half of Russia’s citizens are skeptical about the vaccine, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyany said during a video conference with Putin on Friday. He added, however, that two months ago, the figure was about 90%.
Sobyanin, who announced that he had been vaccinated by Sputnik-V, was speaking shortly after his peer-review data from Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials were published in The Lancet Medical Journal, suggesting that Russian The vaccine has a good safety profile and produces no serious adverse side effects.
Scientists not involved in the study said that while the results are a positive sign, only large, stage 3 tests can confirm whether the vaccine actually prevents the disease from Covid-19.
The Russian defense minister was also getting the shot. It seems that the message about the vaccine has gone into complete overdrive after the release of its scientific data by Russia. It remains to be seen whether public opinion and the enthusiasm of front-line workers will change over time.
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