Moscow lags behind European cities in terms of vaccination rates - mayor

The portion of residents vaccinated against the coronavirus is lower in Moscow than in other European cities, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a video published on his blog on Friday.

"We were the first in the world to launch an almost open vaccination campaign. We were the first city in the world to announce mass vaccination," he pointed out. "However, the share of vaccinated people is lower in Moscow than in any other European city," Sobyanin added.

The pandemic is not over yet, people continue to become ill but they are still reluctant to get vaccinated though vaccination is free in Moscow, the mayor emphasized.

"Not only are we vaccinating people at health centers, shopping malls and in parks, we are now paying 1,000 rubles ($13.6) to pensioners so that they can use the money for shopping, only to encourage them to get the shot," TASS cited the mayor as saying.

According to Sobyanin, 1.3 million people out of Moscow’s 12-million population have been vaccinated so far and though it is a rather high figure, it could have been twice as high.

Moscow has the highest number of coronavirus cases nationwide. The city has so far recorded 1,148,508 cases, 1,035,739 recoveries and 19,474 deaths.