Sergej Sobyanin is primarily responsible for unpopular measures against the corona pandemic in Russia.

Last year, for example, President Vladimir Putin left the Moscow mayor to announce the curfews known as “self-isolation”.

Now Sobjanin has to ensure a compulsory vaccination, which affects at least one million residents of the Russian capital: According to an order from the chief sanitary doctor on Monday, employers must be in shopping centers, beauty salons, fitness clubs, restaurants, banks, post offices, theaters, museums, cinemas, transport, health, Vaccinate at least 60 percent of their employees in education and other areas.

Friedrich Schmidt

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

  • Follow I follow

    Authorities also have to have their employees vaccinated, with the first dose of the vaccines Sputnik V, Epivakkorona or Covivak approved in Russia by mid-July and with the second by mid-August. Or they choose Sputnik Light, a recently registered one-component vaccine from the makers of the most widely used Russian vaccine.

    Muscovites strolling, shopping and racing around on e-scooters currently characterize the streetscape of the capital, carelessness prevails.

    There are thousands of new corona cases every day.

    The seven-day incidence is not reported in Russia;

    If you calculate on the basis of the official infection numbers, it was 162 on Thursday. However, the number of unreported cases is likely to be very high, because little is tested.

    Doctors warn that in two weeks the hospital beds intended for Covid-19 patients will all be occupied if the current rate of infection continues.

    60 percent of Russians reject vaccination

    Last weekend Sobjanin had announced “days off” until the coming weekend. On Wednesday the mayor wrote on his blog that the situation was developing dramatically. The vaccination is a personal matter as long as “as long as you sit at home or at the dacha. But if you visit public places or come into contact with other people, you willingly or unwillingly become a participant in the epidemiological process. ”Sobjanin asked for understanding for the“ very difficult ”decision to have compulsory vaccinations.

    Even in privileged Moscow, Russia's vaccination campaign, which started in December, is making slow progress. By the end of May, only one and a half million of the more than twelve million inhabitants of the capital had been vaccinated with at least one dose, although enough vaccine is available and the offer is free. But surveys show that around 60 percent of Russians do not want to be vaccinated. Many distrust domestic drugs and government claims of safety and effectiveness, and cling to conspiracy theories.

    The rulers increased the confusion with contradicting messages: Although they are promoting the vaccination, they regularly claim that Russia is in a much better position than other countries in the pandemic, speak of Corona in the past tense and proclaim "victories".

    The official death rates are probably far too low in view of the horrific excess mortality.

    Does Sputnik V help against the Delta variant?

    Although Russia's rulers are cracking down on their critics, they avoid making decisions that could displease many. For this reason, state representatives long ruled out compulsory vaccination, and corresponding attempts were quickly withdrawn. At the end of May, Siberian Yakutia announced a “compulsory vaccination”, but then turned it into a “mass vaccination”. Putin himself described the compulsory vaccination at the end of May as "not effective": One shouldn't do something like that, the citizens should recognize for themselves that without vaccination they could be in "mortal danger".

    Even after Sobyanin's move became known, Putin's spokesman said, when asked about mandatory nationwide vaccination, that there is no such thing and “there is still no question of it”. Fittingly, the Moscow decision was made public on the day when Putin, far from the misery, beamed with American President Joe Biden at the Geneva summit.

    The Siberian region of Kemerovo and the Far Eastern region of Sakhalin quickly joined the compulsory vaccination in Moscow and in the area around the capital, with other regions likely to follow. If the authorities discover violations of the compulsory vaccination, employers face high fines. Employees who do not want to be vaccinated can be released from their employer without payment. However, migrant workers are currently not allowed to be vaccinated because they are foreigners. That may change now.

    But another question is how well the Russian vaccines, for which there is already a lack of data, help against the virus variants. The Delta mutant, usually still referred to as the “Indian variant” in Russia, is said to account for a good 70 percent of infections. Alexandr Ginzburg, the director of the Gamaleja Institute, which developed the Sputnik vaccine, now spoke of a modification of the Indian variant circulating in Moscow and claimed that laboratory tests had shown that Sputnik V was also effective against it, albeit a little less than against the original virus which, however, is "not at all critical". A study on this is still pending.