Russia Hits Record Coronavirus Deaths For Second Straight Day

Above, St. Petersburg, Russia. Photo by Asya.

News on coronavirus-related deaths coming from Russia through the Honolulu Star-Advertiser is a little on the contradictory side.

While new infections are down, deaths are on the rise.

According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser:

MOSCOW >> Russia’s record high coronavirus-related death toll persisted for a second straight day today, as the number of new infections declined.

The state coronavirus task force reported 1,254 COVID-19 deaths, matching Friday’s tally.

The task force also reported 37,120 new confirmed cases. The daily new infections in recent weeks appear to have a downward trend but still remain higher than during previous surges of the virus.

The latest surge in deaths comes amid low vaccination rates and lax public attitudes in Russia toward taking precautions. About 40% of Russia’s nearly 146 million people have been fully vaccinated, even though the country approved a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine — Sputnik V — months before most of the world.

To read more, go here. 

Foreign Citizens Seek US-Approved Vaccines As Travel Resumes

Above, Asia Lipovetckaia and Armand at the 2016 portrait unveiling party at the Odyssey Restaurant. Photo by Lori Thornhill.

As the U.S. is opening up to foreign travelers, many of them are in a quandary. The vaccine they received, such as Sputnik V, is not recognized by the Food and Drug Administration. In order to be allowed in, they must be vaccinated with FDA-approved vaccines.

KRQE reported:

Starting Monday, the United States plans to reopen to foreign travelers who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. But there’s a catch: non-immigrant adults need to have received vaccines authorized by the Food and Drug Administration or which received an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization.

That leaves many hopeful travelers across the globe who taken full courses of vaccines widely used in other parts of the world — Sputnik V and the China-produced CanSino jab, in particular — scrambling to get reinoculated with shots approved by U.S. authorities.

Two other Chinese vaccines, Sinopharm and Sinovac, have been approved by the WHO and will thus be accepted for travel into the U.S.

While Sputnik V is used in around 70 countries worldwide, it has still not been approved by either the FDA or the U.N. health agency. Nearly 1 million people have received the vaccine in Hungary, a Central European country of around 10 million.

Hungary was one of only two countries in the 27-member European Union to roll out the Russian vaccine. Fewer than 20,000 people received it in Slovakia.

Citizens of Russia, where use of Sputnik V is most widespread, also are seeking Western-approved shots so they can travel abroad. Faced with the prospect of being turned away from flights, Russians have booked tours to Serbia, which has authorized use of the Pfizer-BioNTech, China’s Sinopharm and the AstraZeneca vaccines in addition to Sputnik V.

Russia, which unveiled Sputnik V with much fanfare as the world’s first registered vaccine in August 2020, criticized U.S. plans to leave the vaccine off its list of approved shots.

Artist Asia Lipovetckaia of St. Petersburg, Russia was planning to come to New Mexico for a 2-3 week visit, but the pandemic hit and those plans had to be scrubbed. She can come to the U.S. if she gets vaccinated by a FDA or WHO-approved vaccine. She could go to Serbia to get it as the above article stated. To date, she has not been vaccinated.

To read the full article, go here.

Russia's Sputnik V Vaccine Excluded

Above, Asya and I having lunch in Santa Monica a week before my move to New Mexico.

Before the pandemic started, Asya and I were talking about a visit by her to New Mexico for a couple of weeks or so. She resides in St. Petersburg, Russia. The pandemic put a pause on that. She was stuck in Denmark for a few months when the pandemic hit and travel restrictions were enacted.

As everyone is aware, the pandemic has hit every country. 

Russia claims to have developed the first vaccine for COVID-19, called Sputnik V. 

According to the Moscow Times:

Russia has confirmed 7,464,708 cases of coronavirus and 205,531 deaths, according to the national coronavirus information center. Russia’s total excess fatality count since the start of the coronavirus pandemic is around 596,000.

On the number of Russians vaccinated, ABC News reported:

Vaccination rates have remained low, too, with only 32% of the country’s 146 million population having received at least one shot of a vaccine and only 28% fully vaccinated.

Unfortunately, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Drug Administration does not recognize Sputnik V vaccine, which will cause some problems when new rules are announced in November on foreign visitors to the U.S. In 2019, over 300,000 Russians visited the U.S.

Axios reported:

New rules allowing fully vaccinated international travelers to enter the U.S. beginning in November will exclude those vaccinated by Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Sputnik V's exclusion will mean millions of fully vaccinated individuals won't be eligible to travel to the U.S., per the Post.

• It will also have a wider international impact, as Russia has plans to distribute its vaccine to around 70 countries.  

State of play: According to the new rules, non-citizens entering the country must be inoculated with vaccines approved for emergency use by either the Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization, per the Post.

• These include the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines used widely in the U.S., as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine. It also includes the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines developed by China.

WHO has paused its review process of the Sputnik V vaccine over concerns about its manufacturing process, according to the Washington Post.

It will be interesting to see how things shake out once the new rules are announced.