Russian Frontline Workers Oppose Putin’s Coronavirus Vaccine, Sputnik V

Earlier in August, the Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the approval for the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V. He touted its efficacy while saying that the shot is “safe” to be administered.

Putin based his claim on the fact that his daughter took the vaccine as well. He did not base his facts on scientific or clinical data, as anyone should while approving a vaccination.

When asked how his daughter felt after taking the shot, he said that there was a slight increase in the temperature after taking each shot of the two-dose coronavirus vaccine. But he said that thereafter, she felt good and there were no adverse effects.

Despite the claims made by the Russian president, the frontline workers in Russia are not convinced. This includes teachers, who have started going to school and hundreds of children are exposed to them each day.

Even though Russia crossed about a million coronavirus cases on the same day, the schools in the country reopened on September 1. Teachers are expected to be the first ones to be vaccinated since they are in touch with som nay children at their workplace, however, the case is not the same.

A Russian teachers' union by the name "Uchitel," in fact, started an online petition to reject the coronavirus vaccine approved by Putin, on grounds of safety concerns. The petition further explains why the coronavirus vaccine should not be made mandatory until the clinical studies are complete in humans to prove that it is safe as well as effective.

"Before the end of the trials, they cannot make it mandatory. But I know that in some schools and state bodies, people are talking about the mandatory status of this vaccine by the end of this year," said Yuri Varlamov, member of the union and a Moscow-based teacher.

Sputnik V, developed by Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, has been approved without the required large-scale clinical testing in humans. As soon as the COVID-19 vaccine approval was announced by Putin, making Russia the first in the world to do so, public health experts from across the globe raised concerns related to the safety of the vaccine.

"Firstly, it is generally known that the quality of domestic vaccines is worse than that of foreign ones," said Marina Balouyeva, co-chairman of the "Uchitel" union. "Secondly, the vaccine was created at railway speed, which already raises concerns. It was created in haste."