Russia announced on Sunday that it started inoculating homeless people against coronavirus in the city of Saint Petersburg under a charity program.
Taysia Suvorova, from Nochlezhka, a non-governmental organization that provides aid to the homeless in Russia, said,
“Here there are many people at risk. It is important for them to be vaccinated.”
Forty people housed by the same NGO have already been inoculated.
According to official figures, out of a total population of five million, there are 15,000 homeless people in the city.
While Nochlezhka believes the real figure is twice as much.
57-year-old Galina Ivanovna told AFP, after receiving the first dose of the vaccine,
“Some people have been saying controversial things about the vaccine, but I think there are more advantages than negatives”.
“I’m pretty happy to do it,” she added.
Another recipient Aleksandr Suvorov, 60, voiced her thoughts, adding that the vaccine was a good thing “because the situation is complicated with coronavirus”.
An NGO has already launched a similar initiative for the homeless in Moscow, supported by the authorities in the Russian capital.
Russia registered its first coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, back in August.
A second Russian vaccine, EpiVacCorona, was approved in October 2020. The country officially launched its programme of mass vaccinations in January.
On Saturday Russia announced the registration of its third coronavirus vaccine Kovivak.
