In Russia, the authorities are struggling to convince Russians to go get vaccinated. Even though this country has several vaccines of its own design, including Sputnik V, less than half of the 144 million Russians are fully immune to date, according to the Gogov specialty website.
On Thursday, the designers of Sputnik V claimed in a statement a “strong protection“against the Omicron variant, statements similar to those of Mr. Putin who claimed that the Russian vaccine was”more efficient than others used in the world“.
Government figures show 326,112 deaths from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. But the statistical agency Rosstat, counts almost double.
After a strict containment in the spring of 2020, the Russian authorities refused to reinstate such restrictions, despite new epidemic waves, in order to limit economic losses.
Russia is the fourth country in the world most bereaved by the virus, after the United States, Brazil and India.
–
