{"id":276278,"date":"2021-06-16T19:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T16:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/moscow-orders-mandatory-vaccinations-over-dramatic-case-rise\/"},"modified":"2021-06-16T19:00:01","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T16:00:01","slug":"moscow-orders-mandatory-vaccinations-over-dramatic-case-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/moscow-orders-mandatory-vaccinations-over-dramatic-case-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"#Moscow orders mandatory vaccinations over ‘dramatic’ case rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Moscow orders mandatory vaccinations over ‘dramatic’ case rise<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"vaccine\"
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The mayor of Moscow on Wednesday ordered mandatory vaccinations for residents of the Russian capital working in the service industry, citing a “dramatic” rise in coronavirus infections.\n <\/p>\n

The announcement by Sergei Sobyanin\u2014one of the first compulsory vaccination orders for a major world city\u2014was a stark admission from a senior Russian official that authorities are struggling to bring the pandemic under control.<\/p>\n

Russia lifted most restrictions last year, and the country has pressed ahead with large in-person events, like a recent economic forum in Saint Petersburg and Euro 2020 hosting duties.<\/p>\n

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly signalled Russia was moving beyond the coronavirus and claimed his country\u2014which has the sixth-highest caseload globally\u2014handled the global outbreak better than most others.<\/p>\n

“We simply must do everything to carry out mass vaccinations in the shortest possible time and stop this terrible disease, stop the deaths of thousands of people,” Sobyanin wrote in a statement on his website.<\/p>\n

Health officials in Moscow have in recent weeks reported a steady rise in the number of new COVID-19 cases, mirroring a trend across Russia.<\/p>\n

That increase in cases comes as authorities struggle to encourage Russians to get vaccinated, even though the country launched a mass campaign of free jabs in December.<\/p>\n

Sobyanin, whose city of some 12 million is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in Russia, said just 1.8 million residents had been inoculated.<\/p>\n

“The coronavirus situation continues to unfold dramatically,” Sobyanin said, as authorities announced 5,782 new infections in the capital and 75 deaths.<\/p>\n

“In connection with the extremely difficult epidemiological situation, the Chief State Sanitary Doctor for the city of Moscow today adopted a decree on the compulsory vaccination of workers in the service sector,” he said.<\/p>\n

Vaccine hesitancy<\/b><\/p>\n

Some 60 percent of all service industry workers in Moscow were ordered to be fully vaccinated by August 15, including taxi drivers, staff of cultural venues and restaurant workers. <\/p>\n

The directive from Sobyanin, who has taken a combative stance against the pandemic compared to other officials, came just weeks after Putin said the Kremlin would not order mandatory jabs.<\/p>\n

The Russian leader in May described any non-optional vaccine rollout as “impractical and impossible to introduce”, saying citizens themselves needed to understand there was a “fatal” danger in opting out.<\/p>\n

That line was repeated on Wednesday by the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who said there was “no discussion” within the Russian leadership of announcing mandatory vaccinations nationwide.<\/p>\n

But Putin has several times in recent months taken to state-run television channels to press upon Russians the urgency of getting vaccinated.<\/p>\n

Recent polling shows that many Russians are unlikely to voluntarily get the jab, with one recent independent survey suggesting 60 percent do not intend to be vaccinated.<\/p>\n

In an effort to boost turnout to public venues offering vaccines, Sobyanin last week announced that all Muscovites who get their first coronavirus jab would be automatically entered into a lottery to win a car.<\/p>\n

Despite introducing a strict lockdown after the pandemic swept across Russia last spring, authorities lifted most restrictions by mid-summer in an effort to protect the struggling economy.<\/p>\n

Russia started its mass vaccination campaign in December, with homegrown vaccine Sputnik V\u2014touted by Putin as the best in the world.<\/p>\n

Russia has since app<\/a>roved three more vaccines for public use: EpiVacCorona, CoviVac and the one-dose Sputnik Light.<\/p>\n

Sputnik V has been approved in 67 countries, including ex-Soviet nations like Belarus and Armenia, allies like Venezuela and Iran, but also Argentina, Brazil, India and Pakistan.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Russia sees surge in virus cases amid slow vaccine drive\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Moscow orders mandatory vaccinations over ‘dramatic’ case rise (2021, June 16)
\n retrieved 16 June 2021
\n from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news<\/a>\/2021-06-moscow-mandatory-vaccinations-case.html<\/p>\n

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