MOSCOW, Feb 19 : The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday that all the foreign embassies accredited in the country had been invited to vaccinate staffers against COVID-19.
As of mid-February, the Russian vaccine against COVID-19 is authorized in over 25 countries across the world, the ministry recalled, expressing the belief that promoting vaccination should be a global goal amid the pandemic, and pointing to Russia’s contribution to the international effort.
“Inviting the diplomatic corps to be vaccinated against the coronavirus infection is a practice that is widely spread in many countries, which is quite understandable, since efficient fight against the epidemic requires the widest possible coverage of all the people staying in the country … The Russian Foreign Ministry is no exception. As the disease spreads rapidly and poses a threat to all categories of citizens, all the embassies and international organizations’ representative offices that are accredited in the Russian Federation were invited to participate in the vaccination campaign,” the ministry said in a statement.
Russia invites foreign diplomats to vaccinate in line with its commitments under international agreements, including the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the ministry stressed.
“Effort is also being made to vaccinate staffers of Russia’s diplomatic missions abroad and their families.
This is based on the principle of voluntariness, staffers retain the right to choose an alternative vaccine,” the ministry went on to say, adding that Russian diplomats working abroad can also be vaccinated in Russia during vacation or a business trip.