The Politics of Pandemics

34. Sputnik Moment

It was supposed to be the shot that took over the world. Russia's Sputnik vaccine was registered earlier than almost all other competitors, and Moscow was one of the first cities to have a vaccination campaign. Yet Sputnik is now lagging behind in the vaccination markets, with a low takeup rate within Russia and most countries not prioritizing Sputnik. The war in Ukraine has further dampened the prospects of the vaccine on the international politics. This is despite Sputnik being comparable in efficacy and safety with other similar shots. Is it a victim of international politics or of Russia's own disinformation campaign? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uBS21Jcyld6CydqwL2vTZwa2x5uri9jS2wRBKFi1uAE/edit?usp=sharing

33. One Million Excess Deaths

In 2021, Rosstat, the official statistics agency of Russia, announced that the country’s natural population, minus migration, declined by more than a million people. The main reason, unsurprisingly, is the COVID-19 pandemic. With nearly one million excess deaths over the past two years, the statistics show just the severe impact of the past two years of the coronavirus pandemic on the Russian people, as well as how much the Russian government has obscured their failure to manage the crisis. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wNLT6pOOdE3o1CPTy7aGD-0Untc54ZEe91_Kg6HMIaE/edit?usp=sharing

32. Bad Meat from Private Butchers

In 1979, a secretive lab in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk accidentally released anthrax into the morning air, killing at least 67 people and countless other animals. The problem is, the Soviet Union was not supposed to have this anthrax. This was the single worst biological leak ever, one that almost exposed the Soviet's illegal biological weapons program. It was just bad meat from private butchers, the authorities claimed. It was not until 1992 onwards that the truth about the lab and the Russian biological weapons program would slowly leak out. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JDfwEiPdagop44-2Mehheu86JAh7vC7iEGy90_mKg3Q/edit?usp=sharing

31. The Last Smallpox Outbreaks in Soviet Russia

Smallpox is a horrific disease, we know that. With its high mortality rate, permanent disfigurement, and endemic status in just about every country up to the 20th century, it is no wonder the disease was the first on the list to be eliminated globally. And central to that effort from the very start was Russia, from the Empire into the Soviet Union. We’ll explore the history of smallpox from Catherine The Great’s early attempt at inoculation against the deadly disease, to the USSR’s work in eliminating smallpox, how they managed foreign outbreaks, and the status of smallpox in Russia today. This is the story of a Tsarina who took a risk, an unprecedented cooperative effort between Cold War enemies, and the last notable outbreaks of smallpox in the Soviet Union. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RdaabF8F9M0DO2jIZQ7nc6nNhaNgnJaYUT8CmPd5PXI/edit?usp=sharing

30. The First Media Disease

The late 19th century brought in dramatic improvements in travel and communication. Now one can hear about news from across the European continent instantly, and travel hundreds of kilometers in a few days. And as the speed of travel increased, so did the speed of the spread of disease. We look at the 1890 flu pandemic, the so-called "Russian flu" or "Asiatic flu". Known as the first modern or first media epidemic, it spread faster than previous outbreaks, spreading around the world in just under a year. And thanks to the new global newspaper industry, the reactions to it were strikingly different than before. And yet, the similarities between the outbreaks of 1890 and 2020 are so similar, that some people are wondering if the answers to our current predicament can be found in this long forgotten outbreak. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sbjk7RtMf_b2jkSLSpD1pieYg0NeV1ssBNI60zMF4PQ/edit?usp=sharing