The Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine (the so-called UOC-MP) has once again been accused of disrupting the state coronavirus vaccination program. This time it was the former Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine (2006-2008), People’s Deputy of the Rada’s first convocation, ex-adviser to the President of Ukraine, Valery Ivasyuk, who had a say on Channel 5.
“Even Danilov on Friday hinted that the greatest damage in Ukraine as an anti-vaccine lobbyist is caused by the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), although he stopped short of naming the denomination,” said Ivasiuk, adding that representatives of the clergy of the religious organization since the onset of the epidemic have been claiming that “vaccination is something artificial, it’s about some kind of coding, some kind of chipping,” urging people to go to temples as often as possible, to go to shrines and take communion without fear.
It should be recalled that on October 19, 2021, Oleksandr Danyliuk, head of the expert group on providing emergency medical care to the Medical Services Directorate of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, told UNICEF expert Kateryna Bulavinova that the lowest vaccination rates are observed in regions of Ukraine where the ROCinU has the greatest impact on Ukrainians.
This opinion is confirmed by the church rally of believers and priests with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine against the COVID-19 vaccination, held outside the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on October 19. The protesters said they believe viruses don’t exist, and that vaccination equals genocide.
According to the Spiritual Front of Ukraine, the rally had certain signs of an act of sabotage aimed at weakening the Ukrainian state, including by contributing the higher morbidity among the population and creating an excessive burden on the health care system.
