The staff at Moscow’s Polyclinic No. 5, syringes at the ready, waited for the expected flood of people as the first phase of mass coronavirus vaccinations rolled out this week. And waited. And waited some more. Rows of empty seats lined the waiting area. Staff members, with little to do, squabbled about where to put a small vase of dried pink flowers. With Russia’s coronavirus cases rising sharply, authorities are banking on the country’s Sputnik V vaccine as the answer to the crisis — and opened the vaccine to the public even before it finishes Phase III trials. In the first group, health workers and teachers can start the two-dose treatment.

But there seemed to be more vaccine skeptics than takers in the first week across Russia, struggling with the fourth-highest number of cases at more than 2.5 million.

Russian authorities also did not help their cause by issuing muddled messages about whether vaccine-takers need to avoid alcohol for weeks. “I don’t trust it,” said mechanical engineering student Lia Shulman, 21, “because they always lie. If the government tells you to do something, you should do the opposite.”

Russia rushed to register its vaccine in the summer before it was fully evaluated in trials, which may have fueled public doubts. But deep-rooted skepticism of official promises goes back to Soviet times. Many Russians simply don’t buy the rosy picture of the vaccine painted by health authorities.

“I don’t want to be vaccinated and neither do my parents,” Shulman continued. “Most of my friends are the same.”

A visitor looks at her phone as she walks in the nearly empty GUM department store in Moscow on Dec. 3.

In Moscow’s Polyclinic No. 3, beige couches with seating for 20 were vacant on one day this week. In another Moscow clinic, No. 3 Branch 2, the morning passed with no one showing up for a jab.

The less-than-enthusiastic turnout may just signify initial wariness until more information comes from the Phase III trial. But if the snub lasts for months, it could be a major setback in Russia’s efforts to control the pandemic.

Waiting for data

Russia’s leaders see the Sputnik V vaccine as an example of Russian scientific might, keeping pace with vaccines developed in the United States, Europe and China.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which invested in the vaccine, says more than 40 countries have shown interest and there are global orders for 1.2 billion doses. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin predicted “explosive” global demand for Sputnik V on Wednesday.

Shulman, among others, remains doubtful without clear trial data. Most information has been announced by government officials or news releases from the vaccine developers.

“I haven’t seen the [Sputnik] results, so I don’t trust them,” she said.

So far Russian scientists have published only Phase I/II results in the British medical journal Lancet. Russian officials say the Sputnik V vaccine efficacy exceeds 95 percent and it is safe.

Alexander Samsonov decided to join the vaccine trial after his grandmother died of covid-19 and friends contracted the virus. (The Washington Post)

Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford on Tuesday became the first to publish a peer-reviewed paper in the Lancet on a full vaccine trial showing 70 percent efficacy, although more trials may be needed to see how well it works for people over 55 years old.

On Dec. 4, Moscow’s deputy mayor, Anastasia Rakova, said 20,000 people had received both shots of the Sputnik V vaccine as part of Phase III trials. Of those, 272 got the virus. There were no serious side effects, she said. The randomized double-blind trial includes 40,000 volunteers aged 18 and over, a quarter of whom get the placebo. In all, 25 other potential Russian vaccines are being developed beyond the flagship Sputnik V, officials said Wednesday.