Just talked to a friend in the south of Russia 🇷🇺 and asked about COVID-19 vaccine - he says he and all his family categorically don't want to get vaccinated with Sputnik V.
He says he will wait as long as it's possible to avoid it (meaning mandatory vaccinations enacted in some republics).
The level of distrust towards the government-sponsored vaccine I've heard in his voice is shocking and very sad, especially as his parents are 70+ and unvaccinated too.
🤦♂️
@kravietz
fun fuct - it seems like their vac is actually pretty decent.
i don't blame russians for not trusting their gov though.
Precisely, Sputnik V seems to be a pretty regular and working vaccine. The problem is twofold — first, Kremlin politicised it with the classic "we're the best, fuck the rest" propaganda, which made people already suspicious.
Second, as part of their regular divide & conquer tactics they flooded the West with anti-vax propaganda, which was promptly translated back to Russian by local anti-vaxxers.
