Statement of the Presidium of the CPRF Central Committee on QR Codes and Mandatory Vaccination
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to exacerbate the country’s socio-economic crisis. Capitalist Russia was not prepared to fight the new coronavirus infection. It was a direct consequence of the vicious policy of destroying primary health care, closing health care facilities, a chronic shortage of medical personnel, years of cuts in funding for social programs, corruption and commonplace negligence. All these failures have not effectively protected Russia from new threats in the field of health and epidemiological safety.
Alarming information about the victims of the pandemic reminds more and more of the reports from war zones with several thousand dead and wounded. The society is divided and indignant, irritated and frightened. The citizens trust the state less and less. They do not believe in the ability of the authorities to find the best way out, to stop the flow of diseases and deaths. The failures in the fight against the pandemic accelerate the decline in the authority of government.
This is a natural result of the policy of dismantling the achievements of socialism. The collapse of the Soviet health system – the best in the world! – has become one of the main results of “reforms” according to the schemes of liberal dogmatists. Russia has evolved into this tragic situation in the last decades. The organizers of this vicious policy are responsible for millions of ruined lives.
The multilevel mechanism of protection of citizens’ health has been destroyed. The powerful shield against infectious diseases created in the USSR has also been destroyed. This became the main reason for the inability of the Russian ruling circles to effectively fight against COVID-19.
Unable to cope with the pandemic, the authorities are taking another route. On November 12, the government submitted to the State Duma draft laws on the mandatory use of QR codes in public places and on transportation. If adopted throughout the country, these special passes – vaccination certificates – it will be prohibited to go to non-food stores, cafes, retail stores, visit cultural institutions and use public transport. At the same time, the list of prohibitions for the unvaccinated may be expanded by decisions of regional authorities.
It is assumed that the law will be in force until June 1, 2022 and can be extended. Under the pretext of fighting the pandemic, the authorities plan to introduce total control over citizens. The introduction of mandatory QR codes for visiting public places and commercial establishments will have extremely negative consequences. By their nature and scope, these measures go far beyond the realm of human health. They are capable of multiplying the split in society, increasing its potential for protest and becoming a catalyst for destructive processes.
Bills are presented that violate a number of articles of the Constitution and laws of the Russian Federation. They are aimed at restricting the rights of citizens in order to force people to get vaccinated. At the same time, many factors are ignored. In particular, many of our compatriots have recovered from the disease asymptomatically or without consulting a doctor. They have sufficient levels of antibodies in their bodies. However, the controversial draft laws do not guarantee them the possibility to obtain the required certificate and QR code.The Russian government continues to build the wall that separates it from the people.
In fact, we are talking about the transition of the state to a policy of segregation and restriction of the inalienable rights and freedoms of citizens enshrined in the Constitution of Russia. An artificial division of the population into two categories is imposed – those who have received the QR code and those who have not. This new reality forms a dangerous line of social contradictions. The denial of access to a number of socially important benefits for citizens without a QR code will put them on the margins of public life. In fact, this is a change in the nature of the political regime, its evolution towards the “sanitary dictatorship” and the “electronic concentration camp”.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation states that the pandemic cannot be stopped by violent restrictive measures. Mandatory vaccination is not allowed! Many people are afraid to be vaccinated because they do not trust the authorities. And this mistrust is only growing, since the ruling circles have chosen the tactic of threats and reprisals instead of a laborious work of explanation. Already now, people who do not have vaccination certificates are not hired, expelled from their jobs and deprived of basic civil rights.
This is no longer a fight against an epidemic, but against citizens.
For two weeks now, a wave of discontent with the authorities’ attitude towards the population in the context of a pandemic has been sweeping the country. People are going out to protest. Citizens are holding picket lines. Collective petitions against total vaccination and QR coding appear. It is time for the ruling circles to finally listen to the voice of their own people.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that the consequences of the pandemic are the direct result of the systematic destruction of the health care system created by Lenin-Semashko, the mass closure of clinics and hospitals, the dismissal of doctors and nurses, and the reduction of bed capacity. Even in the wealthy city of Moscow, as a result of “optimization” in 2011-2018, the number of doctors decreased by almost 19% and the number of hospital beds decreased by 27%.
Instead of significantly expanding support for the health and medical science sectors, the power of capital continues to tighten the screws. In the impoverished Russian society, the social divide is becoming more and more serious. Today it is being aggravated by attempts to psychologically intimidate the population.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation opposes the full introduction of QR codes. We refuse to adopt prohibitive bills. The fight against COVID-19 should not be conducted by introducing total control over citizens, but through the development of the health care system, expansion of the volume and quality of medical care. It is time to understand that the best response to dangerous infections is a developed system of prevention, advanced science, the commissioning of new health facilities and reconstruction of existing health facilities, the opening of previously closed medical facilities, the provision of benefits and other support measures for working doctors. Instead of new prohibitive measures, the authorities must engage in a comprehensive explanation of the benefits of vaccination as the primary means of preventing dangerous diseases.
This dangerous pandemic period decisively requires an increase in the responsibility of current authorities. It is necessary to concentrate all possibilities and resources of the country on treatment of infectious diseases, not to produce public diseases.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is against health dictatorship! We are for the revival of the best traditions of national health!
Gennady Zyuganov. Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Head of the CPRF faction in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
