Russian Teachers Refuse To Be Injected With The Sputnik V Vaccine

Sputnik V Vaccine (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - A small association of independent teachers in Russia urges the government not to force its members to receive injections of the COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V. Several clinics in Moscow, last week began receiving supplies of Sputnik V. The vaccine has been approved for use in Russia despite a phase III test. which involved 40 thousand people just started last week.

Starting September, doctors and teachers will be the first to be offered voluntary Sputnik V injections. This rule is strongly supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

With schools reopening in Russia on September 1 for the first time since March, the Uchitel teachers' union has launched an online petition. The petition denies the obligation to vaccinate teachers before all clinical trials are completed.

"It is likely that the principal will be under pressure to get everyone vaccinated," the petition said, quoted by Reuters on Wednesday, December 2.

Uchitel represents only about 700 of Russia's 1.2 million school teachers, said a senior union official. But it said nearly 1,400 people had signed the petition.

The Russian Health Ministry said vaccination for teachers would be voluntary. But Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the mandatory vaccine shots were for military personnel.

The Moscow Mayor's Office said any vaccine injection would be carried out on a voluntary basis. The Moscow mayor's official also said there was "no pressure on schools and therefore no punitive action against teachers" for reluctance to be vaccinated.

Uchitel is the only teacher's union known to have issued such a petition. However, the Uchitel co-chair, Marina Baluyeva, an English teacher from St. Petersburg, made a similarity to voluntary vaccine injection with the volunteer staff of teachers to help with cleaning work.

This work is voluntary in theory. But teachers who refuse to do the job can get into trouble.

One school in Moscow has offered voluntary injections to a department of 80 teachers. One of the teachers, Larisa Ivanovna, said that 20 people had registered for vaccinations but that her decision to do so was driven by her fear of losing her job.

"I am afraid to take the risk of an untested vaccine," said Dmitry Kazakov, a history teacher who signed Uchitel's petition and remains vigilant even though his boss hasn't asked him to have the injection.

"Sometimes you get an offer you can't refuse." he said.

Russia is the first country to license a vaccine for COVID-19. They named their vaccine Sputnik V in honor of the world's first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union.

Health experts warn that vaccines should not be used until all testing is approved internationally and regulatory steps have been taken. But the Russian government dismissed such criticism and became an information war.