Inna, the “empress” who received the Russian vaccine

Although she has been an anchor for the RT channel in Spanish for several years, Inna Afinogenova became known to the general public in January 2019 when her YouTube video went viral in which she proclaimed herself Empress of Russia.

The satire, which began his analysis of the news of Juan Guaidó’s self-proclamation in Venezuela with black humor, caused the journalist and youtuber to be known ever since by the nickname “The Empress”.

The young journalist, since September of this year, has been participating as a volunteer in the third phase of testing the Sputnik V vaccine and has made her experience public by telling about it moment by moment through her Telegram channel. It aims to clarify that most of what is said about Moscow-licensed drugs falls into the category of fake news.

“Today I started preparations to get the Sputnik vaccine against covid as part of the third phase of clinical trials. We were several RT volunteers. They did a complete examination, we signed some papers and if the results are optimal, in two days they will give us the first dose of vaccine “.

Thus begins, on September 18, the young journalist’s magazine on Telegram, which she builds with texts, photos and videos. He points out that the Russian vaccine is safe and meets all scientific standards, plus it got involved following a totally autonomous determination.

“My participation in this essay has nothing to do with my work, but it is a very thoughtful personal decision. In the situation we find ourselves in, he would have participated in the testing of any vaccine, be it Russian, Chinese, Cuban or any large pharmaceutical company. I logged in and signed up. The decision to share information on how I am doing has nothing to do with my work. I think it is in the general interest and it would be stupid not to report this experience with the public that I have, “he said on October 13 when the second dose of the drug was applied.

Who is Inna?

Lives in Moscow. He has more than half a million followers on his YouTube channel, 22,500 on Telegram and is one of RT’s most iconic faces. With his numbers he could fit perfectly into that new generation of celebrities they call “influencers”; however, few personal details about Inna can be found on the Internet, thanks in part to herself.

For example, he hasn’t updated his Instagram account since 2017, but on the contrary, his Ahí les va channel account is managed in a dedicated way with complementary content to those offered on YouTube. On Twitter, for its part, it has 230,000 followers, who read and participate carefully in its trills, all linked to its journalistic work and international news, especially Latin America, where its main niche is located. All its contents are in perfect Spanish with a Spanish accent.

He is currently deputy director of the RT information portal on the web. In his appearances and on social networks, he tends to be ironic about being a “Russian bot” or a “puppet in the service of Kremlim”. The characteristic style of his story, always imbued with intelligent irony and harsh criticism of the hegemonic media and right-wing governments, does not detract from the seriousness of his work, indeed, everything he shares is carried out with an evident informative and pedagogical intent.

One in 40 thousand

The experience that Inna has been recounting on Telegram for more than two months is shared with the rest of the other 40,000 participants in the third phase of the Sputnik V clinical trials. This is emphatically reiterated by Inna in her reports because much of the evil The fame attributed to the Russian vaccine is that it was not sufficiently tested and that it had very limited test subjects, a lie that even highly regarded scientific journals such as Britain’s The Lancet have debunked even though the mainstream media is unaware of it. aware.

“I got tired of being afraid of the virus and as soon as it was announced that we were looking for volunteers I ran to fill out the documents. With that I would also like to clarify that this issue has nothing to do with my work, it is a personal decision. They give between tenderness and sardonic laughter the messages of the people who write me that I do it so that they do not throw me out RT (that is: I submit to something that, in their opinion, will kill me or at least leave me disabled so that they will not fire me, Hahaha). Indeed, some appear to be straight out of the movie “Good Bye Lenin!” An hour ago. I have a family and have grown tired of caring for them every day since March. I prefer to try whatever gives us some hope in me as soon as possible to see if it works, and if it works, run my mom to do the same. It’s that easy. “

This was shared after taking the first dose. In the message he also said that that first night he had a fever and chest pain, like many of his fellow experiments.

In addition to her personal experience, the journalist also explained in her messages the functioning of the double vector and the double dose of the drug, how she managed to be selected after completing several physical tests and how she interacts with medical staff through an application that had to download to your mobile where you have to report your health status daily.

He explained that of the 40,000 participants, 10,000 did not receive the vaccine but a placebo, as established by the protocols for this type of procedure. Although Afinogenova initially thought she could be one of the controlling minorities, side effects and a lab test done after the second dose dissuaded her from the idea.

He wrote it on November 5th: “I have just received the results of the antibody test I did yesterday. I have antibodies and many. Before I was vaccinated, I didn’t have them, the vaccine generated them. On side effects: fever 38.4 on the day of the first injection (which I lowered with paracetamol), weakness, migraine. After the second injection I had no negative effects. Now: to live ”.