BEYOND VACCINATION: The Homeless in Moscow Cannot Obtain the Vaccination against COVID-19 Due to a Lack of Proper Documents.
By Stephen Wilson, our reporter in Moscow
Sirens break the gentle brooding silence of the Moscow motorway which rudely cuts through the districts of Dinamo, Aeroport, and Sokol located in the Northwest of Moscow. The sheer beauty of the magnificent buildings and parks which grace this road never ceases to move me. You see huge institutes built in a Classical style and a Soviet skyscraper reminiscent of an old Gothic church just along the road stretching from Aeroport to Sokol.
Young students can casually drop into lively and enticing coffee bars and restaurants. They may go for a walk in the many surrounding spacious parks. The city seems vibrant and bursting with a boundless inexorable energy. The night is always young….or so it seems.
On my walk I notice that the girl of a couple alerts her boyfriend to a half moon which can be seen hanging in the sky saying, "Wow! There is a crescent moon. Look how beautiful it is!" In such serene and soothing surroundings it is easy to forget the deep crisis menacing below the surface.
For like the rest of the World Russia has been plunged into a crisis where as many as 600,000 people have lost their lives to Covid {according to Rosstat} and an independent source claims 997,000 died from 2020 to September 2021. In a single day, I observed ambulances removing two deceased homeless persons from two spots along this road. This crisis has hit the homeless hard. The homeless and the poor remain the forgotten victims of this crisis.
Although it is difficult to establish the exact cause of the deaths of the homeless, one thing is indisputable: the death toll of the homeless in Moscow has drastically shot up. According to the statistics group Rosstat, 5,634 homeless persons died in 2020. In 2019 the number was 420. So the number of deaths has risen just over ten times. The enormity of this increase is staggering!
The number of homeless persons calling for assistance has also grown. According to the Center of Social Adaption, from March 2021 to the present, they received 43,000 calls for help from the homeless.
Nobody knows the exact figure of the homeless in Moscow. According to the official figures issued by the Department of Labor and Social Protection, there are approximately 14,000 homeless. But unofficial estimates range from 60,000 to 100,000 homeless persons.
Despite a huge publicity campaign to persuade Russians to get the vaccinated, the homeless can't get vaccinated. They can't get vaccinated because they don't have the proper documents. A person can't just show up to obtain a “free vaccination.” One has to produce three documents to be vaccinated: one’s passport, one’s compulsory medical insurance card, and a special insurance card number issued by the State. Without a passport and medical insurance, the person will be sent away. Anyone who frequently works with the homeless will hear them complain, "I have had my passport stolen.” However, now some charities can help the homeless restore their passports. But what if their passports are stolen again and again? The homeless have no safe place to keep their precious possessions. And without a passport, it is impossible to obtain an officially approved job.
The homeless represent one of the most vulnerable groups concerning the virus. They often have a very poor immunity system weakened by exposure to the elements, a highly stressful life on the streets and a poor and inadequate diet. If the homeless remain unprotected then they can not only become infected but infect those who are in contact with them such as the police, ambulance staff, and volunteers.
When the homeless gather around railway stations to get free meals they are sometimes coughing, and ask, "Do you have any tablets or medicine for a sore throat and cough?" Unfortunately, those volunteers are not allowed to hand out prescriptions or special medicine. Volunteers from the charity Nochlezhka, for example, state they can negotiate with some clinics to get some homeless vaccinated of, say, 60 homeless persons. "But this is just a drop in the ocean," states a spokesperson.
So how can the homeless go about getting vaccinated? The Department of Labor and Social Protection claims the person has to approach the Center for Social Adaption and request help. First they have to be 'rehabilitated' and then they receive a free vaccination. This involves a lot of form filling not to mention having their passports restored. The Department of Labor and Social Protection state they responded to 19 homeless people with the virus.
It is a myth that constant publicity that the vaccination is free and available to everyone solves the dilemma of how to get the vaccination to everyone—including the homeless. Strange as it seems, many people are denied the vaccine because they lack documents. No passport, no vaccine!
Many people complain about how the homeless pose a threat to public health. They say the homeless never wash, change their clothes, or observe measures in basic hygiene. It never occurs to some of those people that the homeless don't have access to launderettes/laundromats, bathrooms, toilets or showers. Why not let the homeless have access to them? And why not go up to a homeless person and give him some soap, towels and shaving equipment? When volunteers do this the homeless welcome it! They eagerly want to wash themselves in a better way. But one problem is that in some restaurants and cafes the doors of bathrooms are kept locked to prevent the homeless from entering the place.
People condemn McDonalds for selling unhealthy fast food but at least they don't prevent the homeless from entering their restrooms and quickly washing themselves {At least to my knowledge…God forbid if the situation has changed}. It is unfortunately true that most other places forbid them from attempting to have a quick wash.
A very bold and innovative government with just the most basic kind of imagination could quickly resolve this situation. They could do away with the red tape requirements and simply vaccinate the homeless. Of course, it would remain problematic for the homeless to turn up for the second stage of the vaccine because they can easily lose sense of time on the streets. Asking homeless persons to practice even the most basic activities to safeguard their heath are difficult, such as keeping to a particular diet, getting proper rest, and staying warm.
Why not just give a homeless person a roof over his head and his own space so that he can fully restore his health and dignity? For there are thousands of empty apartments and space within Moscow which could be commandeered as part of an emergency.
The marked increase in the number of homeless certainly represents an emergency which demands bold decisive measures!