Denis Protsenko, the head physician of the Moscow hospital No. 40 in Kommunarka, practically has no doubts about the inevitability of the fourth wave: “We are talking about a wave for one simple reason, because we are on the verge of a seasonal outbreak of morbidity, characteristic not only for covid. The coincidence of certain factors — the season, the return from vacations and the beginning of the school year — can create preconditions for the tension of this situation in late September — early October. » In this diplomatic statement, Protsenko does not mention that vaccination in Russia has not yet become widespread.
The incidence of COVID-19 has risen sharply in the summer
The June wave was so rapid and aggressive that, perhaps, for the entire time of the pandemic, it led to the fact that for a short time there were queues at the vaccination points in the capital, and in the regions as well. In part, the enthusiasm of the population was based on the fact that any trip to the resort areas required to have either a vaccination certificate or a fresh PCR test.
But the surge of consciousness was short-lived. And vaccination began to slip again. In the summer, the British version of the virus was replaced by a more infectious strain — «delta» Its feature is the speed of spread, simply infectiousness. Developers of Russian vaccines against COVID-19 began to test their drugs for effectiveness against this strain. At the Center. MP Chumakova reported that clinical studies of the KoviVac vaccine have proven its effectiveness against the delta strain.
And the effectiveness of Sputnik V against the «delta» strain, according to the developers, was 90%.
And the most significant effect of the vaccine was that it guarantees: in case of infection with covid, the course of the disease will be mild and not life-threatening. According to Rospotrebnadzor, only less than 1% of those who completed the full course of vaccination against COVID-19 fell ill with coronavirus infection.
In the summer, the recommendations for vaccination were also updated. A separate section has appeared on the vaccination of patients with HIV infection. The Sputnik V vaccine is now recommended for patients with HIV infection if they have been on ARV therapy for at least four weeks. Moreover, the use of the vaccine is recommended regardless of the level of the immune status, ARV therapy regimens and viral load. There was a regulation of actions in the presence of medical contraindications for vaccination, as well as for the vaccination of cancer patients and pregnant women.
Newborns infected with coronavirus at the maternity hospital of Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Volgograd. Photo: RIA Novosti
But the Russians, according to polls of sociologists, believed in their own «maybe» more than in Rospotrebnadzor. For many, the cognitive dissonance was the broadcast in one news program on the central channel of a report on vaccination in a Karelian village with arguments about its lethality, and five minutes later — footage of mass jubilation at the celebration of Russia's Independence Day in the capital. And the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, and the graduation party «Scarlet Sails», the City Day in Moscow added «yeast» to the strengthening of indifference. The recommendation “keep a safe distance” in the proposed circumstances has become an obsolete meme.