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Coronavirus pandemic

Kremlin says issue of introducing total obligatory anti-COVID vaccination not on agenda

With the introduction of the obligatory vaccination for certain categories of citizens, heads of the Russian regions proceed based on the situation, Dmitry Peskov noted

© Sergei Malgavko/TASS

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. Vaccination against the novel coronavirus in Russia will be mandatory only for certain categories of citizens, and the issue of compulsory vaccination for all of the country’s population is not on the agenda, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"This is not about a total vaccination of the population," Peskov said. "We are speaking here about the required vaccination for particular spheres of the economy".

The presidential spokesman added that the measure is reasonable considering the recent scale of the COVID-19 spread. "It does not change the essence of this problem’s solution," he noted.

The presidential spokesman said that with the introduction of the obligatory vaccination for certain categories of citizens, heads of the Russian regions "first of all proceed based on the situation, which evolves in view of the increasing pace of the spread of the coronavirus".

"We are speaking here about recommendations of regional chief sanitary doctors and about decisions, made by heads of the regions based on the instructions and within their special powers in a particular region," he stated.

Peskov added that governors of the Russian regions are resorting to using their special powers delegated by a presidential decree in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Here are the key statements, made during the meeting

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