In Russia, due to sanctions and the withdrawal of Western companies from the market, imported veterinary drugs are gradually disappearing, including those needed for vaccinating animals when traveling abroad. It is reported by Mediazona with reference to market participants.
So, according to sources of the publication, in the large chain pet stores Beethoven and 4 Paws, vaccines of brands approved by many countries have disappeared from sale: Nobivac, Eurican, Feligen and Purevax. Rabies vaccines have not completely disappeared yet, they can be found in some chain stores.
“At the moment, there is an acute shortage of imported cat and dog vaccines in Moscow, veterinary clinics are finishing up the remnants of pre-spring purchases,” the owner of a small Moscow veterinary clinic told Mediazone.
At the same time, she noted that there are no longer any vaccines in the warehouses of suppliers in the required volume.
“Large clinics buy large quantities before the start of the season, small veterinary clinics buy according to their financial capabilities, and now if someone has something left, then they vaccinate it,” she added.
Owners have to call dozens of clinics in search of imported vaccines, since domestic drugs are not suitable for traveling abroad.
“The foreign vaccine will run out sooner or later, and if everyone switches to the Russian one, then the animals will not be taken out of the country, and cases will become more frequent when people move abroad and leave the animals abandoned,” fears the organizer of the Association of Veterinary Clinics Irina Chuvakina in an interview with "Media zone".
Semyon Zhavoronkov, director of the Association of Veterinary Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, linked the shortage of vaccines with changes in legislation: from July 1, manufacturers are required to place vaccine strains in Russia for testing. According to him, the outbreak of the war and the subsequent sanctions "led to a break in logistics chains, the duration of the delivery of reagents increased from a couple of weeks to several months."
Clinics are experiencing a shortage not only of vaccines, there is also a shortage of imported anesthetics, antibiotics, antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory drugs.
Sergey Sereda, president of the Russian Association of Veterinary Practitioners, told Mediazone that "according to his information" the situation could improve by August. “Other logistical approaches are being made, and suppliers are assuring that a vaccine will be available by this time,” he explained.
A report by the Center for Strategic Studies (CSR) published in June stated that about 90% of foreign companies operating in Russia are from countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia; 46% decided to reduce work, and 21% decided to stop work completely. Moreover, the political reasons for leaving or reducing activity were not always named by companies, often the decrease in activity was associated with production, financial or logistical difficulties – already side effects of war and sanctions.