Coronavirus Russia: Teachers’ union warns staff could be forced to take unproven Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine

‘Sometimes you get an offer you cannot reject,’ says historian Dmitry Kazakov

A Russian teachers’ union has warned its members could find themselves coerced into taking the country’s new coronavirus vaccine, which has been shipped to clinics and approved for use before phase three trials have been completed.

Russia is the first country to licence a Covid-19 vaccine, calling it “Sputnik V” in homage to the famous Soviet satellite, but Western experts have warned against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory steps have been taken, a call dismissed by Moscow.

The vaccine will be mandatory for members of Russia’s armed forces, according to Vladimir Putin’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu, but offered to teachers and doctors on an entirely voluntary basis.

However, Uchitel, a small independent teachers’ union, has launched a petition to ensure no mandatory measure is imposed on its members ahead of the reopening of schools on 1 September.

“It’s likely that school principals will be under pressure for everyone to be vaccinated,” the petition warns, as the Kremlin seeks to avoid the embarrassment of having to reintroduce lockdown measures should further outbreaks develop in the classroom.

Uchitel represents only about 700 of Russia’s 1.2 million school teachers, a senior union official said, but some 1,400 people have nevertheless signed its appeal to safeguard educators.

The Moscow mayor’s office has so far backed the health ministry in insisting that any trials involving teachers would be undertaken on a voluntary basis and that “there is no pressure on schools and therefore, no punishment measures towards teachers”.

But Uchitel’s co-chair, Marina Baluyeva, an English language teacher from St Petersburg, remains unconvinced and drew parallels with occasional weekends when staff are asked to help with cleaning tasks, saying that such work is voluntary in theory but teachers who refuse to take part can find themselves criticised and subject to pressure regardless.

One Moscow school has already offered voluntary shots to its faculty of 80 teachers, staff have said. One of those teachers, Larisa Ivanovna, said 20 had signed up for the jab but that her own decision to do so had been driven by fear of losing her job.

“I am afraid of taking the risk of an untested vaccine,” said Dmitry Kazakov, a history teacher who signed the Uchitel petition and remains wary even though his bosses have not yet asked him to have the jab. “Sometimes you get an offer you cannot reject.”

Russia has suffered more than 995,000 cases of Covid-19 but a relatively low number of deaths at just over 17,000.

Additional reporting by Reuters