Russian vaccine programme in race against time

Outlook

Although daily COVID-19 infection rates are trending downwards, officials including Deputy Health Minister Tatyana Semyonova have warned that a third wave is a real possibility. The head of the state medical biology agency says 25-30% of the population would have to be vaccinated within two or three months to avert this.

That target is some way off: officials say around 8% of the population has been vaccinated to date, including 3% with two doses. At current rates, 50% of the population may not be vaccinated until 2022, beyond the official target of 60% by August 2021.

Impacts

• Rosstat’s revised COVID-19 count of 162,000 COVID-related deaths would be the world’s third-highest figure for 2020, ahead of India.
• The Rosstat figure still accounts for only half the excess deaths recorded in Russia in 2020 (by comparison with 2019).
• A mix of popular vaccine scepticism and lack of information has left many Russians unaware of or blasé about the crisis.