Nearly 16 months after becoming the first country to register a coronavirus immunizer, Russia faces a low rate of vaccination, with just 46% of the population having received at least one dose.
The rejection has contributed to an explosion of Covid-19 cases and deaths since September, and the picture could escalate in the coming days. This Monday (6), the Russian government confirmed two cases of the omicron variant.
In all, ten people who arrived in the country from South Africa tested positive for Covid-19, but it is still unclear whether the omicron cases are part of the group.
The anti-vaccination scenario is repeated in most other former Soviet republics, with only the Baltic States (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia) presenting rates higher than the world average of 55% of the population immunized with at least one dose, according to the British platform Our World in Data.
In comparison, 77% of Brazilians have already taken at least one dose and 64% are fully vaccinated.
In Russia, only immunizers developed in the country are used in the vaccination program. Government-enforced nationalism, however, has not contributed to the rise in Russian interest in vaccinating themselves.
According to a survey carried out in July and mentioned in a report in the British newspaper The Guardian, 15% of Russians who refuse to be vaccinated would accept an immunizing agent developed by Western countries.
On the other hand, assistant professor of the Department of Sociology at the European University of St. Petersburg Ekaterina Borozdina points out that, although some Russians are afraid of receiving immunizations produced in the country itself, vaccination rates would not be very different if the government opened the system. for foreign vaccines.
According to her, the reason for such distrust has historical roots, still linked to the period of the Soviet Union, when the regime did not accept hesitation regarding the immunizations offered.
“At that time, people knew that vaccination campaigns were not aimed at the importance of getting vaccinated, but mainly to show political influence. The population was aware that the government’s objectives were external”, he comments.
In the 1990s, when the Soviet Union came to an end, the country’s then president, Mikhail Gorbachev, launched a series of reforms that tried to diminish the totalitarian character of the regime. Among them, the end of mandatory vaccination.
At the same time, however, the country found itself in chaos caused by the sudden shift from socialism to capitalism, with high rates of violence and a drop in the quality of services provided by the government. The context, emphasizes Borozdina, further aggravated the population’s distrust of what was offered by the regime.
“Today, people who are afraid of the possible consequences and complications of the vaccine think: ‘if something happens to me, the state will abandon me, probably as it did in the 1990s.’ They think they will not receive adequate support,” he says.
The impact of the changes that took place in the late 20th century among Russians is so great that a recent survey by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM, for its acronym in Russian) shows that 76% of people over 60 attribute a negative role to Gorbachev in history .
The same institute released, in 2019, a study that revealed that 40% of the population does not know that some vaccines applied in childhood, such as those against measles, tetanus and hepatitis B, must be repeated in adulthood.
Not even President Vladimir Putin can convince the population to get vaccinated. On several occasions, the Russian leader praised Sputnik V and even assumed that he had the immunizer applied to his body, but said he was against the obligation – in late November, he claimed to have received the booster dose.
On the other hand, amidst the hesitation, the Russian government announced in November that it had sent to Parliament two bills that introduce the health passport for accessing restaurants and using public transport. According to the text, from February, the Russians will need to prove that they were vaccinated or that they already had the disease.
The measure, however, is resisted by part of the population, who, in some regions where there are already restrictions, buy false vaccination certificates. “People don’t care if they are immunized or not, they just think that they need to provide the requested documents”, attests Borozdina.
The same is happening in Ukraine, a country that is facing a serious ideological and military dispute against the Russians and is increasingly trying to move closer to Europe.
In the eastern European country, 31% of the population has received at least one dose, and just over a quarter is fully vaccinated. In addition, according to a study carried out by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) based on data from October, less than half of those not vaccinated intend to receive the immunizing agent.
Added to the indisposition is the denial of most Ukrainians. The Unicef survey still points out that 62% of those who do not want to get vaccinated believe that the pandemic is not a threat.
Ukrainians’ distrust is also fueled by the strong anti-vaccination movement boosted in the country a few years ago, after a 17-year-old teenager died after being immunized against measles in 2008. According to a report presented by lawmakers, the boy had already been vaccinated at the time. twice before taking the third dose.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian government, the WHO and Unicef declare that there was nothing wrong with the immunizing agent.
The fact, however, was enough to bring Ukraine’s vaccination rate down to one of the lowest in the world and cause a measles epidemic in the country. Between 2017 and November 2019, the disease infected 115,000 Ukrainians and killed 41, including 25 children, according to UNICEF.
“This antivaccination campaign was everywhere, including in the media and in the news. Even doctors were suspicious of immunizers and started telling their patients not to get vaccinated,” recalls Pavlo Kovtoniuk, Ukraine’s deputy health minister between 2016 and 2019 and co-founder of an industry-related think tank in Kiev.
Due to the attempt to weaken ties with Russia, Ukraine does not include in its vaccination program immunizers from the neighboring country, as well as other former Soviet republics, including Georgia and the Baltic States. Currently, the country uses Coronavac and immunization agents from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen.
The conflict can also be felt in recent allegations by the Ukrainian government against the Russians. As pointed out in October by the National Security and Defense Council of the country (a security agency linked to the Executive), Russian channels on the Telegram have discouraged vaccination in content aimed at Ukrainians.
The same sources, however, would be publishing pro-vaccination content on channels aimed at regions of eastern Ukraine, with strong Russian influence, such as Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as Crimea, annexed by the Kremlin in 2014.
As a way of trying to reduce the hesitation of Ukrainians, President Volodimir Zelenski announced that the government will pay citizens who take the two doses of vaccine against Covid-19 – the promised amount is 1,000 hryvnia (BRL 208). “Actually, no one is thrilled about it,” comments Kovtoniuk.
Meanwhile, the former Ukrainian deputy health minister is worried about the coming year. “I don’t see any change. At least 50% of the population won’t be vaccinated soon, and we still have booster shots, it’s going to be a mess. Next year will be endemic and we’ll have new restrictions.”
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