Anti-vaccination movement in the countries of Eastern Partnership - sources, scope, consequences
Anti-vaccination movements in Eastern Partnership countries
Journalists from Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine prepared materials on the vaccination situation in their countries. They talk about the anti-vaccination movements and assess the scale and consequences of the campaigns they organize.
Material from Armenia: Covid-19 – medical or political problem?
Author – Gayane Sargsyan
At present, Armenia is among the countries with the lowest rate of vaccination. The struggle between the vaccination movement and ‘anti-vax’ campaigns here is ongoing. Very often, this struggle transfers from the healthcare sector to the political field.
Epidemiological situation
As of December 17, 343,350 cases of coronavirus were confirmed, 327,539 patients recovered and 7,885 people died. Only 24.6% of the country’s adults received both doses of the vaccine.
According to Reuters, as of December, Armenia still has the lowest vaccination rate among neighboring countries. In Georgia, it is 31.2%, in Azerbaijan – 54.3%, in Turkey – 73% and in Ukraine – 30.1%.
For the first time, a sharp increase in the spread of the pandemic in Armenia was recorded in the spring of 2020. Over the course of about a year and a half, since the beginning of the pandemic, the government has introduced a number of restrictions, as a result of which, from time to time, there have been positive fluctuations between the rates of morbidity and mortality.
It is noteworthy that the official data on coronavirus mortality rates in 2020-2021 provided by the state statistics committee does not correspond to the figures published by the Ministry of Health – the difference of 1,027 cases is quite significant for a small country like Armenia.
This caused questions and heated discussions. Meanwhile, Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan explained that this difference in data is due to the phased implementation of the Armed system, launched by the Ministry of Health.
“Now we are studying which statistical data, and at which stages of implementation of the system, remained outside our electronic statistical system”, she said.
To clarify the circumstances of the case, by order of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, an official investigation is underway, which will be continued by the prosecutor’s office. It is aimed at finding out what caused the difference in numbers – deliberate actions of specific individuals or technical problems. Despite the fact that the problem was identified back in October, there is still no official information two months later.
New restrictions sparked protest, but worked
Over the past three months, a number of restrictions have been introduced in Armenia to prevent the spread of the virus.
1. By a decision that entered into force on October 1, unvaccinated workers were required to present employer with a certificate confirming a negative result of a PCR test every 14 days. The cost of the test are to be covered by the employee.
Only those fully or once vaccinated, those who have serious contraindications to vaccination and pregnant women can be allowed to work without a negative test result.
Those who have not submitted the relevant documents on time are forbidden from going to their workplace. The employer has the right to fire employees for a certain number of unworked days.
2. From November 1, it once again became obligatory to wear a mask on the street.
3. From December 1, employees must submit a negative PCR test for coronavirus to the employer every seven days.
4. Another measure is expected – from January 1, 2022, “citizens can visit places of public catering and cultural events only with a negative PCR test result or with a document confirming vaccination”. Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan announced the government’s intention to introduce such a regulation at the end of November, the corresponding project is currently being discussed.
All these measures forced some part of the population to get vaccinated. The numbers of new cases per day, as well as deaths, have also decreased.
However, the introduction of restrictions as well as the fact that they did not apply to high-ranking officials caused discontent, which was accompanied by protests.
Anti-vaccination campaign initiators
Simultaneously with these regulations, the country was discussing the draft law “On Civil Service”, according to which a number of high-ranking officials were on the list of exceptions and did not have to submit a negative PCR test result or a vaccination certificate. It includes, in particular, the president of the country, deputies of parliament, the prime minister, heads of local self-government bodies, the ombudsman and the judges of the Constitutional Court.
The differentiated approach to ordinary residents of the country and officials has become a reason for protests.
In response, the Ministry of Justice issued an official explanation, on “why the dismissal rule cannot be applied to some officials if they do not submit a vaccination document or PCR test”:
“Deputies to the National Assembly are elected by the people, the president of the republic, human rights defender, members of independent bodies, etc. – by the National Assembly. In turn, the powers of judges are terminated on limited grounds provided for by the constitution, the prime minister, who is appointed as a result of constitutional processes, does not actually have a higher authority that would dismiss him or appoint him to this position, and so on.
Therefore, even if one wants to, it will be impossible to apply this consequence to the aforementioned persons, that is, to dismiss them from their jobs on this basis”.
However, this approach is not shared not only by many residents of Armenia, but also by the ombudsman himself, who is included in the list of exceptions.
“I consider these exceptions to be erroneous, I think this is a discriminatory approach. I think this violates the legal purpose of the law. We cannot explain to citizens why some officials were released from restrictions. If the goal is to protect the health of the population, then it should be noted that the members of the Council of Elders included in this list communicate more with people than an employee of any department in their office”, said human rights defender Arman Tatoyan.
These controversial and divisive approaches have spurred the anti-vaccination campaign. It is noteworthy that a significant part of its leaders occupy prominent positions in parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition structures.
However, many of them do not oppose the vaccination process itself, but rather the compulsion to vaccinate. They position themselves as defenders of human rights and the expression of free will. Thus, the medical problem moves to the political field.
To be more persuasive, anti-vaccination campaigners from political circles are actively recruiting doctors.
On September 10, ex-president and leader of the Hayastan (Armenia) political bloc, Robert Kocharian criticized compulsory vaccination:
“Vaccination should be a voluntary decision of everyone, not the result of coercion. A differentiated approach to those who occupy political positions is also unacceptable”.
The name of Dr. Gevorg Grigoryan can often be found among those who actively advocate against vaccination. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rodina Foundation, established by the former head of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan.
The doctor recruited a small team and launched the COVID-19 Armenia: Fact-Finding Group campaign. This Facebook page often posts unfounded criticism of the authorities.
One of the leaders of the anti-vaccination campaign is the head of the Zartonk National Christian Party, lawyer Ara Zohrabyan, who is speaking against compulsory vaccination. Within the framework of the Free Will project, a few months ago he applied to the administrative court with a demand to invalidate legal acts and decisions of the Minister of Health.
Given the fact that a significant part of the Armenian media is concentrated in the hands of the opposition, they also play an important role in the anti-vaccination propaganda.
As a result, the health problem in Armenia is transforming into a political one, where the main players in the anti-vaccination campaign are tasked with proving the government’s failure in preventing the spread of pandemic and in implementing an effective vaccination process.
Material from Georgia. Pandemic: following the footsteps of conspiracy theories
Author – Katie Tutberidze
“The biggest problem a country can face during a pandemic is when the vaccine is available but the population is not vaccinated”. These words belong to Bruce Gelin, one of the leading US epidemiologists, president of immunization at the Sabin Vaccine Institute. Georgia fell into the category of such countries.
In the fall, almost 17,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had to be destroyed in Georgia. The reason for this was the fact that the vaccine expired because it had not been used. This is accompanied by a dramatic reality – for the fourth month now, Georgia (with a population of 3,700,000 inhabitants) is among the top ten countries in the world in terms of the number of deaths from coronavirus per capita. From April 2020 to the present day, about 13,000 people have died from the coronavirus in Georgia.
Epidemiological situation
The chronology of the exacerbation of the pandemic in Georgia begins at the end of August 2020. The weakening of restrictions, the open border with Russia, which was struggling with a complex epidemiological situation, and the crowded summer resorts led to the second wave of coronavirus in Georgia being more difficult than the first.
In February 2021, the issue of importing vaccines was on the agenda, which gave hope for the fight against the pandemic.
The population of Georgia received the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from the Covax platform on March 13, 2021, three weeks later than the planned date. According to the plan, at the first stage, citizens over 65 years old, medical staff and people from certain risk groups were to be vaccinated. Nationwide vaccination with Sinopharm and Sinovac began in May. Later, Georgia received about half a million doses of Pfizer vaccine from Washington and 50,000 doses of Pfizer as a gift from Lithuania.
All this time, the pandemic in Georgia has been accompanied by an aggressive campaign of conspiracy theories and disinformation. Anti-Western media such as the Objective TV channel, Alt-info Internet TV, Asaval-Dasavali newspaper, Sakinform, and other publications spread false information about vaccines on social media, especially about Pfizer-Biontech and AstraZeneca. A number of clerics were involved in the process and their statements were instrumental in fueling mistrust in vaccination.
Anti-vaccination campaign. Who are the initiators?
“There is no coronavirus”, “The vaccine is a weapon of enslavement”, “Green passports are fascism”, “A chip is implanted into the vaccine, with the help of which Masons experiment on Orthodox Christians”, “No one knows what the vaccine could have been created in one year”, “All those vaccinated against Covid-19 will die within two years”- these are the phrases that can often be heard during the rallies of anti-vaxers in Tbilisi.
Theories of similar content are common on social media and pro-Russian media in Georgia. At first glance, such a narrative echoes the anti-vaccination movements in other countries, but in Georgia, religious and ethnocentric motives in it are much more prominent.
On December 1, “green passports” were introduced in Georgia. This led to massive anti-vaccination rallies, and a more aggressive social media disinformation campaign.
For the past three weeks, opponents of vaccination have held demonstrations in central Tbilisi every Sunday, demanding the abolition of green passports. During one of these rallies, protesters laid out photographs of several doctors on the asphalt in front of the parliament building and began to stomp on them.
The protesters accused the journalists of withholding information about vaccines and the pandemic. Anti-vaxxers also held rallies in front of the buildings of the Georgian Public Broadcaster and the Pirveli TV channel. They demanded to provide them with airtime and protested against journalists covering the topic of vaccination.
“The time will come, and you will be judged for betraying your own people. The media are enemies of the people”, they shouted during the demonstration.
The protests were planned in a closed group of anti-vaxxers on Facebook. The group consists of about 68,000 people. One of the group members, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, talks about the mood of the anti-vaxxers.
According to him, anti-vaccination rallies are organized by the same people who, in recent years, have been spreading anti-Western and anti-liberal ideas in Georgia, campaigning against ethnic minorities and the LGBT community, and openly opposing Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic course.
The anonymous source is a graduate student in the Faculty of Sociology. He is preparing his thesis on the topic of anti-vaccination, and he joined the group under an assumed name.
“These are the same people who staged terror in Tbilisi on July 5. Among them almost all are pro-Russian subjects living in Georgia. Direct threats to the media are often encountered in this group. They have lists with specific names of people whom they are planning to try in some absurd court.
They believe that this trial will take place in the near future and that doctors and journalists will be tried”, said the anonymous source.
On July 5, 2021, ultra-right anti-Western extremist groups staged a large rally in the center of Tbilisi with the aim of disrupting the LGBT Pride march. The action was attended by about 10,000 people who acted in an organized and purposeful manner.
In order not to aggravate the situation, the LGBT community canceled the planned pride. Despite this, 53 journalists fell victim to the aggressively-minded group. They were physically assaulted with life-threatening injuries. The protesters ransacked the offices of two NGOs, tore down the EU flag in front of the parliament building and erected a cross in its place.
The rally on July 5 was organized by the extremist group Alt-Info – the same one that planned the violent rally on July 5 using its media platform, and now uses the same platform to campaign against vaccination. On July 5, 32 people were detained for violence and illegal actions, among them not a single organizer of the rally.
The most powerful anti-vaccination disinformation operates on Facebook, social media on which about 2.8 million Georgian citizens are registered. Dangerous anti-Western activities of anti-vaccination groups and their ideological links to Russian propaganda have been confirmed by numerous studies.
One of the chapters of an Estonian intelligence report published in 2020 is devoted to the activities of extreme right-wing groups that have become active in Georgia since 2017. The report says that the goal of these extremist groups is to demonize the course of the West and cause destabilization in the country. Estonian intelligence describes them as Russian-controlled forces.
The leader of an anti-vaccination movement Zviad Tomaradze is the author of several bills of discriminatory content. In a report by the Transparency International Georgia entitled “Anatomy of Georgian Neo-Nazism”, Zviad Tomaradze is mentioned as a disseminator of anti-Western and discriminatory rhetoric, demanding that the activities of non-governmental organizations be banned.
Another leader of the anti-vaccine movement is Beka Vardosanidze. The Facebook administration often blocks his personal page on the social media for spreading false information and using hate speech.
Vardosanidze was one of the participants in the July 5 events. He serves as a social media manager and is an intensive campaigner against vaccination on Facebook. He is also trying to discredit vaccine-related doctors, pandemic journalists and representatives of non-governmental organizations.
The extremist, ultra-right group Alt-Info (Koka Morgoshia, Zurab Makharadze, Georgy Kardava, Shota Martinenko, Irakli Martinenko), which organized a violent rally on July 5, also spreads misinformation about vaccines through its own Internet television and social media.
Anti-vaxer sentiments in Georgia can be divided into three parts. They are all devoid of scientific evidence. Their main source is videos and articles found on the Internet from anti-vaccination minded doctors, or video sermons from several Orthodox priests who oppose vaccination.
One theory that anti-vaxers are spreading is that one can’t trust a vaccine made in one year. Another theory contains elements of ethnocentrism. For example, some anti-vaxers claim that Pfizer’s vaccine damages Georgian DNA.
The third conspiracy theory overlaps with religion. Its authors and adherents do not believe in the existence of coronavirus and argue that a new world order is being established by means of pandemic and universal vaccination.
“The requirement to ban green passports is only a superficial requirement. In fact, they are of little concern in this issue. Their goal is to stop vaccinations in Georgia, as most do not believe in the existence of the virus.
According to them, by 2024 there will be a single ruler on Earth, and they see themselves as soldiers fighting against this ‘anti-Christian rule, anti-Christian totalitarianism’. So they hate to be called anti-vaxers”, says an anonymous source and researcher on the anti-vaccine Facebook group.
In Georgia, a “green passport” is issued to people vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine and those who have recovered coronavirus. The last point is controversial. Bidzina Kulumbegov, a member of the group of technical advisers on vaccination, believes that granting “green status” to those who have been ill is wrong.
“The mark in the green passport that a person has had Covid-19 is unfounded, since the coronavirus can be infected several times. The only way out is vaccination”, says Bidzina Kulumbegov.
Skepticism about vaccines is a big problem, says Richard Peabody, head of the Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
“Today skepticism about vaccines and mistrust in science are a serious problem. The primary responsibility of medical personnel is to convince citizens that the vaccine helps them avoid hospitalization and fatal consequences.
Recently, WHO published a document on how the vaccine saved the lives of 500,000 patients over 60 years old in European countries. This is very good news, but unfortunately we are still seeing higher case mortality rates in countries with low vaccination rates”, said Richard Peabody.
According to the Ministry of Health, as of December 15, 36.9% of the adult population of Georgia got vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine. The vaccinated have begun to receive booster vaccines, but vaccination rates are decreasing from week to week. In August and early September about 20,000 people were vaccinated per day, today this figure has dropped to 7,000. The infection rate in the past four months has fluctuated between 7-9%.
The World Health Organization recommends that infection rates should not exceed 5% to avoid a collapse of the health system. According to the Georgian National Center for Disease Control, the country’s health care system is at risk due to a low vaccination rate. Today in Georgia, 98% of patients in overcrowded intensive care units are not vaccinated.
Material from Ukraine. Anti-vaccination movement
Author – Victor Zhikh
The COVID-19 pandemic has covered Ukraine “in full”. The country often found itself among the European leaders in terms of daily Covid-19 mortality rates. Mass vaccination, which began in February 2021, showed all the pros and cons of this approach to solving the problem.
Just like in other countries of the world, vaccination faced serious opposition from part of the population, which was immediately superimposed by political and foreign policy factors.
Human rights and social expediency, the actions of the authorities and the personal ambitions of politicians, the hybrid war of Russia against Ukraine and internal political showdowns – everything is mixed up in this hot Ukrainian borsch! Let’s try to understand it a little.
Epidemiological situation and vaccination
The epidemic of an acute infectious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus called COVID-19, which began in the fall of 2019, did not bypass Ukraine either. The first case of infection in Ukraine was identified on March 3, 2020 in a citizen who returned from abroad. The first death was recorded on March 13 of the same year.
Today, according to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, for the entire period of the epidemic (as of 12/13/21) 3,570,448 cases of the disease were recorded in the country. At the same time, 3,233,009 patients recovered, and 91,602 died. Obviously, for a country with a real population of about 35-38 million people, these are very significant numbers. At the same time, the situation is still quite alarming, and there is no need to talk about the end of the epidemic.
What did the country’s authorities do during the fight against the pandemic? The first actions were clearly panicky and rather chaotic. Suddenly, amid the isolated cases of infection, starting from March 17, 2020, a full lockdown is introduced in Ukraine. A government decree stopped all passenger transportation by rail and other transport between settlements. Severe restrictions were imposed on the use of urban public transport.
For the first time in history, the Kiev metro was closed! The work of markets and small shops, except for food and drugstores, was prohibited, the work of shopping centers and supermarkets was limited. From April 6, a mandatory “mask” regime was introduced and the stay of people on the street, including visiting parks, was limited. However, strict mandatory quarantine for those arriving from abroad was not introduced.
Were these measures effective? Hard to say. But what can be said for sure is that the country’s economy suffered enormous damage, especially small and micro-businesses, whose activities were almost completely stopped.
It should be noted that the authorities never returned to such severe restrictions, despite the fact that since the fall of 2020, the spread of the disease has really increased significantly. In the spring of 2020 there were isolated cases of the disease, but in the fall the number of cases had already reached thousands.
The beginning of vaccination as the main means of protecting the population from the COVID-19 epidemic began in Ukraine on February 24, 2021. Since then, according to the Ministry of Health, as of December 13, 2021, 26, 589, 094 vaccinations were administered. During this time, 14,131,445 people got vaccinated, of which 12,457,651 received two doses.
Anti-vaccination movement
In parallel with the begining of vaccination in 2021, an active public campaign against vaccination began in the country. Ostap Vasilyevich Stakhiv, a 36-year-old regional politician from Lviv, previously little known in Ukraine, became its frontman.
The campaign is actively gaining momentum on social media, groups are being created on Viber, Facebook and Telegram, regional coordinators and initiative groups are emerging. As an organizational basis, a public organizationHuman Rights and Health of the Nation Movement with many regional branches and a public organization Stop Fakeppandemia are being created.
Who is Ostap Stakhiv? There are different opinions. Some consider him a populist who has successfully caught the public trend and the discontent of a significant part of the Ukrainian population with the government’s policy in relation to vaccination. Some have hailed him as an ideological champion of human rights. And some, including the power structures and the security service of Ukraine, regard him as a provocateur who undermines the country’s constitutional order and works for the special services of Russia.
Nevertheless, on November 3, 2021, Stakhiv’s initiative group organized a rally in the center of Kiev near the Verkhovna Rada and the office of the President of Ukraine.
According to the organizers, more than 10,000 people from all regions of the country took part in the rally. At the same time, it should be noted that the composition of the participants, as well as their moods, were far from homogeneous, ranging from certain religious groups that spoke under the slogan “No vaccination-chipping” and ending with rather moderate citizens who criticized the not always reasonable and balanced actions of the authorities.
At the same time, one of the main slogans of the protesters was the requirement not to adopt the bill “On the Public Health System”, which provides for the government’s right to impose quarantine restrictions, including those that violate the constitutional rights of citizens and impose additional restrictions and obligations on business.
In addition, it provides for the introduction of a mandatory vaccination requirement for certain categories of citizens and restrictions, including penalties and a ban on certain types of work, for those who refuse to vaccinate.
Many of the provisions of this bill, which has been adopted only in the first reading, do, indeed, violate the constitution of Ukraine and the rights of citizens, for which the bill is harshly criticized – not only by opponents of vaccination, but also by lawyers and human rights activists.
However, many of the rally participants opposed the introduction of QR codes for vaccinated, which is not stipulated by the draft law No. 4142, or by the legislation in force in Ukraine, unlike the Russian Federation. Whether this “confusion” is the result of a lack of awareness among the participants and organizers of the anti-vaccination movement, or the reason is different, it is difficult to say.
It should also be noted that harsh opposition to vaccination and especially compulsory vaccination is quite common in Ukrainian society. So, according to a sociological survey commissioned by the Ukrainian Institute of the Future in October 2021, more than 36% of those surveyed said that they categorically refuse to be vaccinated. At the same time, about half of them (48%) cited mistrust in vaccines as a reason for refusing vaccination, 10% said they were afraid of mutations in the body, and 9% did not consider Covid-19 vaccines sufficiently proven.
In order to stimulate vaccination, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on December 2 adopts a law on the allocation of a one-time payment in the amount of 1,000 hryvnia [about $ 30] to citizens who have been fully vaccinated.
According to this law, from December 19 (within four months after the day the money is received) Ukrainians will be able to buy a gym or fitness club membership, tickets for domestic travel – domestic air and rail flights, book a visit to cinema, theater, museum or concert hall. In addition, people over 60 will be able to purchase medicines with them.
At the same time, money will not be issued in hand, but will be credited to a virtual bank credit card in authorized banks.
What conclusions can be drawn from all this?
First of all, it is necessary to note the extremely weak understanding of the current government and high-ranking officials of real public sentiments and their consideration when making decisions. Unfortunately, this snobbery of the authorities, ignorance and unwillingness to take into account the opinion of citizens, which is extremely widespread and has noticeably intensified after the 2019 elections, does not only take place during the Covid-19 related decision-making.
The result of this attitude towards people’s opinions and their moods is the emergence of active populist, and sometimes radical movements, which include the movement against vaccination. Given the factor of Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine and the activity of Russian special services working to undermine political and social stability in Ukraine, this behavior of the authorities cannot be considered reasonable.
In addition, serious errors in the presentation of information before and at the beginning of vaccination played a significant role in shaping public attitudes towards vaccination.
In late 2020 and in the first half of 2021, health officials around the world loudly proclaimed that vaccination is the path to public immunity.
“Vaccinated means protected!”, that’s the statement sounded from every corner. The real situation turned out to be completely different. Those vaccinated with two doses of modern vaccines, still become infected and infect others. Yes, these people in their mass tolerate the disease much easier and deaths are quite rare, but public disappointment and skepticism, multiplied by the increased distrust in the authorities’ statements, has grown significantly. However, this is a worldwide trend.
The third point to which attention should be paid is political populism, often reaching the level of adventurism, quite widespread in democratic countries, including Ukraine.
The phenomenon of Ostap Stakhiv, whose rating only increased significantly after his arrest, detention and accusations of extremism, is quite typical and, I am convinced, not only in Ukraine. Now it is an established political factor that will inevitably work in the next elections. I’m afraid we will see the Human Rights to Health of the Nation party in the parliament of Ukraine.
By the way, the fact that none of the well-known political forces in Ukraine harshly criticized the government’s mistakes during the vaccination campaign only strengthens such prospects, because, as sociological studies show, about 36% of voters are categorically against vaccination. At the same time, this attitude towards vaccination is generally the same among supporters of all leading political parties in Ukraine, with a slight increase among supporters of the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform for Life (42% vs 36% overall).
Thus, a sharp drop in the number of voluntarily vaccinated people in Ukraine should be expected in the near future. And the “vaccine thousand” is unlikely to significantly affect this process. This trend will be accompanied by an increase in political confrontation between the authorities and opponents of vaccination, and, most likely, the authorities will be forced to make concessions.
The political landscape in Ukraine has already changed and it will soon manifest itself in the elections. And the end will be put by the massive appearance of effective and inexpensive drugs against COVID-19, which, in fact, has already begun to occur – as well as natural mutations of the virus itself.
But whether there will be changes in the consciousness of political elites, including democratic countries, which have been mutating for many years in the direction of snobbish disregard for real public opinion, is a big question!
As the Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2021, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, noted in his lecture, “the world has fallen out of love with democracy. The world has become disillusioned with the ruling elites. The world is drawn to dictatorship. There was an illusion that progress can be achieved by technology and violence, and not by respect for human rights and freedoms”.
This is the main problem of our time, which was highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
