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Visitors to the Healthy Moscow pavilion in Sokolniki Park expect to be vaccinated against COVID-19\u0431 20.06.2021, Russia. \u00a9 RIA<\/p><\/div>\n
RT.com<\/p>\n
Russia’s human rights commissioner has said she is receiving a large number of appeals from citizens over new rules requiring many workers in public-facing jobs to sign up for coronavirus vaccines, amid a new spike in infections.<\/p>\n
Ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova, the country’s civil-liberties watchdog, told listeners to the Vesti FM radio station on Tuesday that she was concerned about the measures that have been imposed in Moscow, St Petersburg and in a number of other regions. In the Russian capital, 60% of employees working in industries like hospitality, transport and entertainment venues will have to have received the jab.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that pushing vaccinations in this way is a dishonest game \u2013 a dishonest action,”<\/em>\u00a0she said.\u00a0“Of course, the idea itself is correct, to protect society,”<\/em>\u00a0Moskalkova added, warning, however, that\u00a0“the mechanisms by which it is being implemented are giving rise to mass psychosis and making people fear coercion.”<\/em><\/p>\n “Most importantly,”<\/em>\u00a0she said,\u00a0“it is not clear why those who do not go for the vaccine should be discriminated against, because they have antibodies \u2013 they have already been ill \u2013 or they cannot for medical reasons.”<\/em><\/p>\n Moskalkova gave the example of the mining giant Norilsk Nickel, one of Russia’s largest businesses.\u00a0“All their employees were told that if they do not get vaccinated, they won’t ever be able to go on summer vacation and they can forget about their bonuses. There are a huge number of threats, [including that] they will be fired,”<\/em>\u00a0she said.<\/p>\n Officials in Moscow published the order last week, as the city set a record for its maximum daily number of recorded Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.. Describing\u00a0 the epidemiological situation as\u00a0\u201cunfavorable,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the city\u2019s top sanitary doctor, Elena Andreeva, warned that\u00a0\u201cthere is an increase in the number of people who actively visit public places while sick,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0attending venues and using mass-transit systems.<\/p>\n Defending the requirements for those serving the public to be vaccinated, the Mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, said that\u00a0\u201cultimately, it\u2019s up to everyone to get vaccinated or not,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said.\u00a0\u201cYou can protect yourself or hope that everything will work out… This is a personal matter… as long as you sit at home or in the country.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut when you go out into public places and come into contact with other people, willingly or unwillingly, you become an accomplice of the epidemiological process. This is the chain link for the spread of a dangerous virus,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the mayor said.<\/p>\n \u201cMoreover, if you work in an organization that serves a large circle of people, then in a pandemic it is definitely not only your own business, no matter what personal protective equipment you use,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Sobyanin added.<\/p>\n