RT to pay employees $800 each to get vaccinated against COVID-19

Employees of the state-controlled television network RT are being offered 57,500 rubles (about $800) each to get vaccinated against COVID-19, editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan announced on June 16.

This one-time payment will be made to all employees who have already received a coronavirus vaccine or get the shot prior to July 10. Employees who already have coronavirus antibodies after recovering from the disease and plan to get vaccinated at a later date are also eligible for the payment.

“Separately, I’ll note that all the payments come from commercial, that is independently-earned, funds,” Simonyan underscored.

• RT is a state-owned holding company that receives funding from Russia’s federal budget. For 2021, the Finance Ministry planned to allocate around 27.3 billion rubles (nearly $380 million) to finance RT.
• On June 16, Moscow officials announced a mandatory vaccination campaign for workers in the public and service sectors. Supervisors in state and private enterprises are expected to ensure that 60 percent of their staff are fully vaccinated by August 15.