MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. A negative attitude towards the necessity to get vaccinated against coronavirus is irresponsible and antisocial behavior and can result in severe consequences, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in his article "Six Lessons of One Pandemic" published in the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily.

"An attitude towards the vaccination is formed under the influence of ignorant and anti-vaccine propaganda. It was conducted and is being conducted based on contradictory and unreliable facts, bordering in some cases on intentional illegal actions that pose a clear threat to public safety", Medvedev believes.

According to him, "that’s the reason why our country faces such obstacles during vaccination". "If we do not find ways to convince people of their irresponsibility, even, to put it bluntly, their antisocial behavior, we will face even more difficult times," he warned.

The official recalled that vaccination first appeared in the country on the basis of the decree by Catherine the Great on mandatory vaccination (variolation) against smallpox, issued in 1796. The method was invented in ancient China. Medvedev also pointed out that a preventive vaccination calendar was established in the Soviet Union and mandatory vaccination against smallpox, typhus, malaria, tuberculosis, polio was carried out. However, this system was destroyed along with the dissolution of the USSR.

The politician stressed that there are many ways to overcome pessimism and skepticism, to allay people’s fears, since generally objections come down to the fact that the vaccine against coronavirus is the drugs that are new and poorly studied so far, made rapidly, have a number of side effects, and most importantly, what scares many people: after vaccination, there is still a risk of getting infected. "Experts have repeatedly given evidence-based and detailed answers to such claims, explained that all vaccines have passed a full cycle of certification procedures, some stages of research were carried out in the epidemic, this is standard practice. The side effects of vaccination are known and described in the professional literature. There are groups of patients who are undesirable to get vaccinated, but most importantly, if the vaccinated people get sick, it occurs without severe consequences. This, among other things, allows to ease the burden on medical institutions, pay more attention to patients with other diseases, conduct planned treatment and operations", Medvedev concluded.