Meeting of the Government Coordinating Council to control the incidence of novel coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues! Let’s discuss today the mass vaccination against the coronavirus announced by the President. It is necessary to ensure that throughout the country there is the opportunity to be vaccinated free of charge.
Naturally, the rates of vaccination vary from one region to another. In some regions, everything is done according to plan, whereas in others, people have to queue for the vaccine. This depends on the number of those who want to get vaccinated, the load on the local healthcare system and, of course, on the number of vaccines supplied. It is necessary to gradually increase production of the vaccines in order to deliver them to hospitals and outpatient clinics without fail. It is important to make vaccination comfortable. People should not have to wait for it for a long time.
Currently, most people are being vaccinated with Sputnik V. Next month we will switch to the large-scale production of EpiVacCorona. It is already being introduced into civilian circulation. The Government has earmarked over 2 billion roubles for its manufacture.
The Healthcare Ministry has received documents for registering one more vaccine. It was developed by the Chumakov Centre. This is already a third vaccine developed by our scientists. It will go into civilian circulation in the next few months. All this will allow us to expand vaccination and make it more accessible, thereby protecting more people against the coronavirus.
Vaccination is an important step in countering the dangerous disease. But it has just been launched and time has to pass before herd immunity is achieved. For this reason, people must take precautions to protect themselves and their families and friends against infection. In places where the situation is becoming stable, some of the restrictions are being gradually eased. It is important to follow very closely how this affects the epidemiological situation and the disease rate and to prevent its growth.
The President has repeatedly emphasised that all coronavirus patients must receive timely medical aid. He has issued instructions for medications to be provided free of charge to those being treated at home under doctors’ supervision. Last week, the Government allocated an additional 2.7 billion roubles for this purpose. These funds will provide more than 300,000 patients with medications.
I would like to ask Mr Murashko to monitor the timely supply of medications to those who are entitled to them.
Many people – doctors, medical nurses and volunteers – are involved in helping coronavirus patients. The Government also continues its support for workers in social welfare facilities who are helping coronavirus patients and people from the risk group. An additional sum of over 9 billion roubles has been allocated for special payments to these workers in the first half of this year. These payments must be promptly dispatched to their recipients. I would like to ask the relevant departments to monitor this issue as well.
Let’s start the discussion.
