Russia targets anti-vaxxers spreading false COVID vaccine

A new recruit of Russia's Baltic Fleet forces received a dose of Sputnik V Gam-COVID-Vac vaccine against the coronaviruses COVID 19 at a recruiting station in Kaliningrad, Russia on May 27, 2021. MOSCOW, Nov 24, Reuters -- Russian authorities said on Wednesday they were scouring social networks and media websites to find people spreading false claims about the dangers of COVID 19 vaccine, the latest to be taken into account in a series of measures to invigorate sluggish inoculation rates.

Russia's daily coronaviruses deaths are near record highs, and authorities say the level of collective immunity is just over 50%, including those who have been vaccinated or have recovered from the virus.

The state healthcare regulator Roszdravnadzor said it had instructed its regional branches to report people - including medical professionals - who deliberately spread false information about the dangers of vaccine. Roszdravnadzor said it had already reported more than 30 anti-vaxxers, who could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Some of the country's most prominent doctors have also joined efforts to convince anti-vaxxers to get inoculated.

In an open letter published on Wednesday by the RIA news agency, 11 doctors invited prominent Russians who are against vaccination to visit red zones treating the most severe cases of COVID - 19.

Maybe after this, you will change your position and fewer people will die, the letter said.

Russia was quick to roll out its Sputnik V vaccine when the epidemic struck last year, but take-up has been slow, with many Russians citing distrust of the authorities and fear of new medical products.

President Vladimir Putin, who said last week that he had been revaccinated, stressed the need to speed up Russia's vaccination campaign.

According to a conference call on Wednesday, Russians were no different from other countries in terms of the presence of anti-vaxxers, which he described as a limited number of people, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov said that the Kremlin's initiative was not the Kremlin's prerogative and that it was not up to it to decide how doctors who dissuade people from getting vaccinated should be punished.

It would be bad to turn this initiative into a witch hunt, Peskov said. Here is a sober and balanced approach. Russia reported 1,240 deaths on Wednesday - just 14 shy of the record set on Nov. 19 - and 33,558 new COVID 19 infections in the past 24 hours.