Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Wednesday that Moscow would pay pensioners 10,000 rubles ($140) to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, in the latest effort to boost Russia’s chronically sluggish vaccination program.
If Moscow residents aged 65 and above complete the two-dose vaccination regimen with one of Russia’s homemade vaccines before the end of the year, they will be eligible for a cash payout, Moscow Times writes.
Pensioners in the capital were previously given gift packages for finishing the vaccine course, which will continue to be available.
Sobyanin said that “elderly Muscovites who are re-vaccinated within the stipulated time would also be eligible” for the cash distribution.
The new effort to urge senior people to get the vaccination comes after Moscow’s coronavirus response center released a series of frightening statistics demonstrating how badly the illness affects elderly individuals.
According to officials, one in every nine individuals over the age of 60 who acquire Covid-19 die. Among those who do not seek early medical help, this proportion jumps to one in three.
Only one-third of the capital’s seniors have been vaccinated, according to the report, which is lower than Moscow’s general vaccination rate.
Despite its manufactured Sputnik V vaccine being widely accessible for free since last winter, Russia’s immunization rates have remained persistently low at about 30 percent of the population, despite having one of the world’s highest vaccine reluctance percentages.
A growing list of Russian localities has reinstated limits and obligatory vaccinations for some employees in the midst of a fourth wave that has seen infection levels reach record highs in recent days.
