The Federation Council was pleased with the work of Rospotrebnadzor to protect Russia

Details of the implementation of the federal project “The country’s sanitary shield – health safety” were revealed by the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova at the government hour in the Federation Council on Wednesday. From her report it followed that the epidemiological well-being of Russians was reliably protected, and the scale of the “sanitary shield” put up by the department would be enough not only for Russia, but also for other (of course, friendly) states. The senators were pleased with what they heard and only criticized the “soviet” name of the department.

“We are responding to threats that, unfortunately, are growing,” Anna Popova warned senators in the introductory part of the report. According to her, a “difficult epidemiological situation” remains in the world: outbreaks of Ebola in Africa, dengue in America and Asia, West Nile fever in European countries (measles is also raging somewhere there), plague in Mongolia and China , by the way, neighboring Russia. Added to these horrors is “the risk of the emergence of a new, highly pathogenic influenza virus” and, of course, “biological threats of an artificial nature,” the official added: “The example identified by our military in Ukraine shows this very clearly.”

Russia’s response is an “unprecedented and knowledge-intensive” project, “The Country’s Sanitary Shield” created on behalf of the president, the head of Rospotrebnadzor indicated.

The program is designed to “protect people’s lives and health from future epidemics and biological threats” and includes a set of a wide variety of measures (scientific research, infrastructure development, digitalization, communication with the population, etc.).

The implementation, judging by Ms. Popova’s report, is more than successful, and it is possible to cover not only Russians with the “epidemiological shield”, but also friendly states – both neighboring and far abroad.

Anna Popova presented other good news in her answers to questions from senators. Probably the key one, coupled with the undoubted readiness of the regions for seasonal epidemics of acute respiratory infections, is the absence of the need to be vaccinated again against the hateful COVID-19. “Today the risks are such that we do not require or offer to be immunized against Covid this season,” reported the head of Rospotrebnadzor. “There will be changes – we have all platforms ready, we will make vaccines and offer vaccinations. Now we need to get vaccinated against the flu.”

However, the fate of Sputnik V still interested Senator Lyudmila Narusova. She asked to clarify whether the World Health Organization (WHO) had finally registered the Russian development. Here again, good news awaited parliamentarians.

“No, the vaccine is not registered on any international platform,” admitted Anna Popova. “But it is registered in Russia, and our registration is recognized and is an element of regulation on the platform of the Eurasian Economic Union.”

Moreover, the speaker continued, the “recognition” of the vaccine is “great all over the world,” and no one actually needs a nod from the WHO: “Everyone has received our vaccines and is receiving them.”

The very fact of Russia’s membership in WHO raised questions from Senator Margarita Pavlova. In response, Ms. Popova advised not to act too harshly: “Participation in international organizations is an important story; at the WHO site we succeed, (even.— “Kommersant”) taking into account what is happening, defend your position.” In this fight, Russia is helped by those very countries dissatisfied with the arrogance of the West, with whom the Russian Federation shares its “sanitary shield”: “Our colleagues from the countries with which we work in Africa are involved in this work, it seems to me that we cannot give up and leave” . By the way, Russia’s assistance in relevant matters, according to the head of the sanitary department, is valued not only in Africa, but in general “on all continents.”

Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko praised the work of Anna Popova and the entire Rospotrebnadzor very highly: “I believe that this most important service has already proven itself to be the country’s sanitary shield over the many years of its existence.” “Only the name needs to be changed,” the speaker suggested, complaining that the full name of the agency (Federal Service for Surveillance in the Sphere of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare) is not easy to pronounce and “even we, senators, get confused”: “It’s a bit of a Soviet name : let’s modernize it and make it shorter.”

Grigory Leiba