a lower percentage was vaccinated than in Argentina

For Russia, Sputnik V is a scientific and political milestone. The first vaccine approved against the coronavirus – questioned at the time, today with consensus within the scientific community -, already approved by 50 countries. With these bottles, the government of Vladimir Putin has woven a vaccine diplomacy in the reissued East / West rift. However, inside their vast territory, the Russians themselves do not give it the guarantee of having borders outside: the percentage of the vaccinated population in Russia is lower than in Argentina.

According to the Our World in Data website, Russia has so far administered 13.63 million doses and Argentina, 4.96 million. But when you analyze the figures in relation to the population (Russia has 144 million and Argentina 45), the relationship is reversed. While here 9.39% of residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine, there the percentage drops to 5.71%, just above the world average (5.39%).

If the total number of vaccines applied is taken into account (the schedules are for two doses, but Argentina has decided to postpone the application of the second by 12 weeks), our country is also above: 10.97 vaccines applied per 100 inhabitants, compared to 9.34 applied in Russia.

It is with a caveat. In the Argentine figures, the Sinopharm and AstraZeneca / Covishield vaccines are also included. However, Sputnik is still the main evolution of the current “vaccine basket” from the government: out of nearly 7.3 million doses received, 61% come from that created by the Gamaleya Institute, of which our country has purchased 20 million units.

If in absolute numbers Russia is one of the countries with the most cases of coronavirus (4,632,688 positive, 5th in the world), if we look at the data per million inhabitants, it is ranked 144. The Argentina is in 52nd position, with 2,517,300 cases. Regarding mortality per million, Argentina is in position 31 (57,647 deaths, 1,267 per million) and Russia in 57 (102,649 deaths, 703 per million).

Do the Russians perceive that the coronavirus is not a serious enough danger how to get vaccinated? A note published a month ago by the BBC correspondent in Moscow points out that the few allusions to the deaths made by the authorities and the fact that there is no national lock-up can influence the low vaccination rates, but it is not the main one. (Or at least not the only) reason.

The path of Sputnik V

Sputnik V was strongly questioned in its early days. Developed by the National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Gamaleya in Moscow in collaboration with the Russian Ministry of Defense, it is based on adenoviral vectors and it has two non-interchangeable components which are applied with a recommended interval of at least 21 days.

But the criticisms were neither in the conception of the vaccine nor in its creators (the Gamaleya is a prestigious research center), but in the “lack of papers” at the time of its approval.

Putin announced the registration of the vaccine, the first in the world to have this status, August 11 of last year. The phase III trials were not yet complete and the Russian president declared as a “guarantee of confidence” that one of his daughters had undergone the puncture.

After a secret trip to Moscow by then-Deputy Minister Carla Vizzotti, Alberto Fernández announced on December 10 the signing of the contract with the Russians. The results of phase III have remained unpublished. The president then declared that he would be the first to be vaccinated. A little later, Putin left it himself off-side when he said he wasn’t going to be vaccinated because Sputnik V wasn’t approved for people over 60.

The Lancet post arrived on February 2. The review of one of the most important scientific journals in the world approved the Sputnik studies: 91.6% effectiveness. More recent data, published by the Russian authorities, also speak of a very good safety profile at the pharmacovigilance stage: 0.1% of adverse effects and no associated deaths. Another study published these days, in Argentina, shows a significant reduction in mortality even with a single dose of Sputnik.

Meanwhile, the Russians are not vaccinated. Contrary to what is happening here, whether the vaccination campaign is focused on at-risk groups and strategic personnel, there is universal: Anyone of full age can get vaccinated for free in hospitals and mobile vaccination centers that operate even in shopping malls and restaurants. Changes are made through a website, an app and over the phone. And at the start of the campaign, those who went to be vaccinated in the GUM store in Red Square received an ice cream.

The reason for rejection

The Levada Center, an independent research center in Russia, monitors public opinion about the vaccine. According to the latest survey available in English on its website, only 30% of Russians today feel ready to be vaccinated.

More than half of people (56%) say they are not afraid of contracting Covid, but even among 43% who fear being infected a high percentage (52%) would not be vaccinated.

When asked for the reasons, the later refuted indication not to consume alcohol did not appear explicitly, but the one they mentioned as the main one was the appearance of side effects (37%), followed by wanting to wait until the end of the tests (23%).

16% of Russians think that it makes no sense to get vaccinated and 10% manifest directly as anti-vaccines. 12% say they have contraindications to be vaccinated and the remaining 7% give other reasons or say directly that they do not know why they do not want to be vaccinated.

Perhaps the delay from the president to get vaccinated also helped to create this climate of mistrust: Putin was not vaccinated until March 23 and the government did not indicate which vaccine he had received. In addition to Sputnik V, Russia has two other vaccines, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac.

“The Russians are conservative. They don’t trust their own state and they don’t trust what can come out of this state, ”Andrei Kortunov, of the Russian Council for International Affairs, told the BBC. The Health Ministry hopes to vaccinate 30 million Russians by June 15, but it is still a long way from this goal. Meanwhile, on the streets of Moscow, you can see huge posters with a photo of a doctor warning: “Believe me, I know how serious Covid-19 can be. Get vaccinated ”.

AS