Naaju Breaking News, Live Updates, Latest Headlines, Viral News, Top Stories, Trending Topics, Videos
[ad_1]
When authorities in the city of Sputnik recently announced that they would offer the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to the local clinic, only 28 retirees signed up to receive the COVID-19 dose.
Interest abroad in the Russian vaccine has exploded since data published in the medical journal Lancet showed it to be 91.6% effective against the coronavirus, on par with the best in the world.
This approval was a political and scientific success for a prestigious project announced with great fanfare by Moscow and which many in the West openly doubted.
But at the same time that countries in Latin America and Europe are demanding a lot of Sputnik, the deployment in Russia itself is slow, as people are very reluctant to get injected.
Sputnik … to Sputnik
“Everyone scared me saying it was going to hurt, but I didn’t feel anything!” An elderly retiree exclaimed as he put on his sweater after receiving the Sputnik injection in the town of the same name.
Behind him, a nurse leaned over to yell at another retiree to stop drinking for a while after the injection.
A short drive from Moscow, the town of Sputnik has a cattle farm, a few identical apartment buildings, and there is no indication why it was named after a triumph of the Soviet space race.
The cosmic link with the vaccine is clearer.
“The Sputnik satellite [en 1957] It was a revolutionary innovation and this vaccine is too ”, rejoices the local leader Galina Bordadymova, wrapped in furs but without gloves in the cold of the street.
“We expected 25 people to come, but we got 28, so we’re happy,” he insists, ignoring the comment that interest was woefully low in a population of over 1,000, given the high risk of coronavirus.
His team had appealed to older residents, prioritizing those most vulnerable to the virus. “Anyone who wanted the vaccine could get it,” says Bordadymova.
International interest
At first, Western analysts were dismissive, if not dismissive, of Sputnik V, as Russian officials made strong claims about an issue for which little evidence was available at the time.
Data from phase III trials later showed the vaccine to be effective, with side effects similar to those developed in Europe and the United States, and interest abroad increased.
“Even our critics are running out of arguments,” Kirill Dmitriev, director of state investment fund RDIF, which backs Sputnik, said last month.
RDIF says 39 countries have already approved its vaccine and, to Russia’s delight, it is even being asked to help the EU, which suffers from shortages.
Hungary was the first to approve the Russian vaccine for emergency use, and Slovakia has just received two million doses, overlooking the possibility of Sputnik serving Russia as a “tool” to exert influence.
Covid-19 does not care about geopolitics, argued Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic.
“We can say that it is an instrument [de influencia] Russia or that the vaccine is only a victim of the political context, but politics is certainly more explicitly present in the case of the Russian vaccine than in any other vaccine currently produced in the world ”, says Andrei Kortunov, of the Council Russian international affairs.
However, Russia now has so many demands for Sputnik that the Kremlin claims it cannot meet all of them with current production capacity.
RDIF says it will supply foreign markets from factories abroad, not with doses destined for the Russians, but has not yet given details or a timetable.
“For Putin, finding the vaccine was a way to show the world that Russia is a great developed country, capable of achieving great success in areas that require a lot of knowledge and technology,” says Tatiana Stanovaya, of the consultancy firm. R.Politik.
But approval of Sputnik across the EU remains a difficult goal.
“When you decide to buy the Russian vaccine, it looks like the accomplishments of the Putin regime or of Putin himself are canceled or approved,” he says.
There is strong international demand for the Russian vaccine, which many interpret as President Vladimir Putin’s success in portraying Russia as a powerful country.
Russian precautions
In the village of Sputnik, there is no such discussion about politics and vaccines.
Some residents are worried about the possibility of contracting the coronavirus: two 50-year-old villagers died from the virus during the first wave of the pandemic.
But its inhabitants seem even more fearful of being vaccinated.
A survey conducted this week by sociologists at the Levada Center found that only 30% of Russians are ready to receive Sputnik V, 8% less since the start of the medical deployment, and this despite the fact that the data on your safety is already public.
“People are afraid, there are all kinds of rumors of complications,” explains Lidia Nikolaevna, brushing a thick layer of snow on the door of her garage.
She was recently in the hospital for covid, so her doctor says she doesn’t need a puncture herself yet.
“Maybe later,” Lidia ventured, echoing the other villagers.
“People say it’s okay, but let’s see. If all goes well, I think more people will get vaccinated.”
“The Russians are conservative: they are not a fan of their own state and they are not a fan of what can come out of this state,” Andrei Kortunov says of the indecisiveness of the people.
In the absence of a new national lockdown, and because of the few allusions to covid deaths that the authorities make, we could forgive them for thinking that the danger has passed.
State television has not been deployed with all its persuasive force, and the president himself, Vladimir Putin, has not yet been vaccinated.
The vaccine, called Sputnik-V, was developed by the Gamaleya Institute and was registered after two months of testing in humans.
So, despite the operation reaching even the most distant points, such as Sputnik, and mobile vaccination points in city shopping malls, only four million Russians have been vaccinated against the coronavirus so far.
Well below the Ministry of Health’s target of reaching 60% of all adults in six months.
The Kremlin insists there is no shortage of vaccines for household use.
But his description of production and domestic demand as “in harmony” for “this step” suggests a reluctance to promote the vaccination campaign too intensively as long as there are no more blisters rolling on the bands. factory conveyors.
Returning home from the village clinic in Sputnik, retired Anatoly said getting his injection was not a problem.
“It was only a moment,” he says, gesturing to receive a stick in his arm, but doubts he really needs to be vaccinated.
“I’m healthy! Just drink samogon,” Anatoly insists, referring to the high-quality, home-made alcohol.
“I think it will protect me from the covid as well,” laughs the 74-year-old, before walking away in the snow.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
