MOSCOW—Russia is adopting increasingly coercive measures to convince Russians to be vaccinated, as authorities try to reboot a flailing vaccination campaign and race to beat back a surge in Covid-19 cases caused by the more infectious Delta variant.
Local authorities in some areas of Russia have made vaccination compulsory for service-sector employees, meaning that millions of workers, ranging from hairdressers to bank tellers, face the threat of unpaid leave if they don’t get inoculated.
Restaurants and shops could be closed for months if they don’t have 60% vaccinated staff by mid-July. And as of late June, only the inoculated, those who have recovered in the past six months or who have a negative test can enter Moscow restaurants and coffee shops.
Only around 16% of people in Russia have received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Russians can take any one of four homegrown vaccines for free. The country doesn’t offer any of the Western shots.
The push has sparked backlash in the face of widespread vaccine skepticism in Russia and has led to a proliferation of fake inoculation certificates online, according to authorities. It comes as Covid-19 cases have surged to over 20,000 a day; deaths have hit a record. Over 90% of new cases involve the Delta variant. Authorities are also advising those vaccinated more than six months ago to get a booster shot.
Unlike current outbreaks in the U.K. and Israel, where over 60% of the population has received a dose, Russia is facing its third wave with only around 16% of people having received at least one shot, according to Our World in Data, a project based at Oxford University.
Experts say high vaccine hesitancy in Russia stems from a deep mistrust of the state—which sponsored the development of the Russian vaccines—and its medical system, as well as assurances by officials earlier this year that Russia had defeated the virus. Over 60% of Russians said they don’t want to be vaccinated, according to a May survey by the independent Levada center.
Taxi driver Vladimir Perevozchikov said he doesn’t trust the vaccine and that he plans to quit his job instead of getting the shot.
Vladimir Perevozchikov said that if he doesn’t get a shot by July 15, the Moscow taxi company he works for will exclude him from their booking system. But instead of getting inoculated, he plans to quit his job before the deadline.
“I don’t really trust the vaccine,” he said. “It was very strange for me that during a pandemic they couldn’t provide free masks and here they inject an expensive vaccine for free.”
“And the most alarming thing is that we’re being forced to do this. I don’t like to have no choice,” said Mr. Perevozchikov, who said he would look for another job before his 6-year-old son starts school in the fall.
Alexandra Yamchenko said she reluctantly agreed to be vaccinated in June because she feared she would lose her job at a Moscow parcel-pickup point just ahead of her marriage later this month.
“Things became difficult with money, so I had to get this vaccine,” she said. “If I hadn’t, I would’ve lost my job.”
Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s human-rights commissioner, said she has received reports that unvaccinated people face discrimination by employers, including threats of firing, canceling of summer holidays or bonuses.
The Delta Covid-19 variant has caused a new surge in infections in Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin himself said that he opposes introducing compulsory vaccinations but that some regions had to introduce such measures to prevent a lockdown and avoid economic losses.
“I hope that the prejudice of some of our citizens will disappear as the vaccination continues,” Mr. Putin said during his annual live call-in show with Russians on Wednesday.
Few countries have adopted such coercive vaccination measures. In Pakistan, authorities have threatened to withhold the salaries of those refusing Covid-19 vaccines. Other places are offering incentives, including lotteries with cash prizes in some U.S. states or a multimillion-dollar apartment in Hong Kong.
Russia has tried such methods before, offering car raffles and cash payouts to the elderly. But as vaccination rates remained low, authorities moved from the carrot to the stick.
“People without vaccination or immunity won’t be able to work everywhere. It’s not possible. It will pose a threat to those around them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week.
Coffee shops are among the businesses restricting entry in Moscow under new rules to limit the spread of the virus.
With Moscow restricting visitors to various establishments, some coffee shops displayed signs reading “Keep Calm, this is a Covid Free Zone.” In August, the popular seaside resort of Sochi will be open only to vaccinated vacationers or those who have recovered from the virus. Those who can’t get a vaccine due to medical reasons will be able to check in with a negative test.
As a result of the new measures, which were announced in mid-June, officials said the vaccination rate across Russia has doubled. On a recent afternoon in Moscow, lines of people could be seen at pop-up vaccination points in parks and shopping malls.
But even so, the Kremlin on Tuesday said that Russia would miss an earlier goal to vaccinate 60% of the total population by the fall.
“Thank God, now more and more citizens are showing conscience,” the Kremlin’s Mr. Peskov said. “Unfortunately, before that, the dynamics of vaccination was at a low level, despite the fact that all the opportunities for this were created by the state.”
Russia has also faced challenges in its campaign to promote its Sputnik V shot abroad. In a preliminary report last week, the World Health Organization found issues with one of the Russian factories that makes it, including concerns about sterilization and possible cross contamination. Pharmstandard-UfaVITA, which operates the filling plant, said that it had already addressed the WHO’s concerns and invited the organization’s experts for another inspection.
At home, the compulsory measures have sparked a backlash.
Some 63% of Russians disapprove of mandatory vaccination, according to a June poll by the recruiting firm SuperJob.
An online market for fake vaccination certificates has emerged, with police launching 24 criminal cases last month against sellers on messaging apps. Offers to buy certificates were still available on the Telegram app this week.
“It’s both worrisome and regrettable that this niche is immediately filled by various crooks who are ready to put people’s health at risk,” Mr. Peskov said Tuesday.
Restaurateur Vladimir Perelman said around 50% of his 700 employees are opposed to vaccination.
Vladimir Perelman, a restaurateur operating 13 eateries in Moscow, said that initially around 80% of his 700 employees were opposed to vaccination. That is down to 50% now.
“My emotional attitude is the same as that of most citizens: This process should be voluntary,” Mr. Perelman said. “Now I personally have to persuade people to do what I don’t think is completely correct.”
But “we don’t have a choice, to be honest,” he said. “Now we are in a situation where there’s essentially an ultimatum—either the employees are working, or the employees are not working” if they don’t get vaccinated.
‘This is a big propaganda failure,’ said Artyom Temirov, co-founder of coffee company Chernyi Cooperative, of the government’s conflicting messaging on the virus.
Artyom Temirov, a co-founder of Moscow’s Chernyi Cooperative coffee shop, said that one of the reasons for the lackluster vaccination campaign is the government’s conflicting messaging.
“Back in the spring, the state said that we had defeated the coronavirus,” he said. “And then, the state began to say that we didn’t defeat the coronavirus, that we urgently need to be vaccinated. This is a big propaganda failure.”
—Valentina Ochirova contributed to this article.
Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com
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