Some call it “experimental,” some don’t trust the government, some even buy fake certificates – as their country experiences a record wave of coronavirus, Russians are stubbornly resistant to the country’s Sputnik V vaccine.

Russia is among the countries hardest hit by the Covid pandemic and a devastating wave this fall saw infections and deaths reach new records, with more than 1,000 deaths per day.

But while the country has several locally produced vaccines, including Sputnik V, only about a third of its population has been inoculated.

As the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide is expected to soon exceed five million, Russian skepticism highlights the difficulties that remain in the global fight against Covid.

Sputnik V was announced with great fanfare last year by President Vladimir Putin as the first registered vaccine against the coronavirus and is available free at clinics and vaccination centers across the country.

Designed as a showcase for Russian science that would quickly turn the page on the pandemic in the country, it has failed to convince the public, with polls showing less than half of people are considering getting vaccinated.

For Russians like Vyacheslav, a 52-year-old businessman, the government has given them no reason to trust the vaccine.

“The authorities lie to us on all kinds of issues. Why should we believe them on vaccination? he asked, his gym bag in his lap as he prepared for a swim in a Moscow pool.

“I have no confidence,” he said, declining to give his last name.

– ‘It’s suspicious’ –

Even some of those who have contracted the Covid, like Svetlana Zhetlukhina, still refuse to be bitten.

“It’s an experimental vaccine,” the 54-year-old financial analyst said, adding that there wasn’t enough “science” on Sputnik V.

“I am not a monkey.”

As elsewhere, Russia has its share of outright anti-vaccines. But beyond those who oppose all vaccines, there are “a large number of Russians who are suspicious of the people who made this vaccine and of the Russian government,” anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova said.

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“They think that we cannot expect anything good from the government (…) and that our laboratories are unable to produce aspirin, let alone a good vaccine,” she said.

Tamara Alexeyeva, an elegant retiree, 67, said the Kremlin’s claims of Sputnik’s alleged superiority over Western vaccines had fueled her skepticism.

“They want us to believe that we have the best scientists in the world, like the USSR,” she said, walking briskly towards a metro station.

“But I will never accept this so-called vaccine.”

Sputnik V has been administered to millions of people and its effectiveness and safety has been confirmed by the respected medical journal The Lancet.

But it has yet to get approval from the World Health Organization or the European Medicines Agency – another fact that worries Russians.

“It’s suspicious,” Vyacheslav said, frowning.

Putin’s government has placed its hopes in vaccines and avoided the type of severe lockdowns imposed in many countries.

– ‘Take back your self-confidence’ –

But with current policies failing to reduce cases, authorities have imposed a national non-work week from October 30 to November 7.

Mandatory injections have also been required for some service workers and there is a growing movement towards requiring vaccination certificates for public places.

But skeptical Russians are also finding ways around this, with a flourishing market for fake Covid passes.

Alexander, a 45-year-old entrepreneur, said he would rather spend 5,500 rubles ($ 80, 70 euros) to get a fake certificate instead of a free vaccine, and knows “a lot of people” who have done the same. .

The Kremlin has made increasingly desperate calls for the Russians to be vaccinated, with Putin asking them in mid-October to “please be responsible”.

The authorities face an uphill battle.

According to sociologist Stepan Gontcharov of independent pollster Levada, surveys show that the number of people opposed to vaccination – “between 50 and 55%” – has been stable for months.

Kremlin “needs to regain people’s trust” if it is to win in vaccination battle, he said, putting in place a “more coherent policy” after months of hesitation between warnings and inaction.

With hospitalizations on the rise and Russia’s healthcare system stretched, doctors say the best ambassadors for vaccination may be those treated for severe cases of Covid.

“Those who survive become our allies,” said Yevgeny Ryabov, doctor at Moscow’s main emergency hospital, the Sklifosovsky Institute.

“When they come out of the hospital, they tell their loved ones to get the vaccine.”

or-emg-gkg / mm / as / jv