Putin is fighting to sell Russia’s vaccine to New Rift With West

Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg

Russia accuses the West of maligning its successes in the world race to defeat Covid-19 while attempts to win key markets for its Sputnik V vaccine meet the demands of regulators.

“We understand the game,” Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, who supported the development of Sputnik V and negotiated its international deployment, said in an interview. “It’s a combination of some misunderstandings, some strong biases, and really some very strong efforts to undermine the Russian vaccine.”

Like neighboring China, yes struggling to reassure nations testing their vaccines, Russia’s willingness to turn what it calls a scientific triumph into geopolitical dividends has been hit by unexpected winds.

President Vladimir Putin has pushed for inoculation in calls with other world leaders since he announced Russia’s approval of Sputnik V in August as the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine. But regulators in many countries have not been willing to give quick approval to Sputnik V, even when they welcome European and American vaccines that completed thorough testing for the first time.

The contest for access echoes the Cold War space race triggered by the Soviet Union’s launch of the world’s first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, which is called the Russian vaccine. While Moscow first arrived in space, it was overtaken by the United States who landed a man on the moon twelve years later.

Russian officials accuse Sputnik’s difficulties of bias. Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the vaccine race as the last phase of a long “war” of disinformation against Russia.

Regulators who have asked for more data say they are only trying to ensure that Sputnik V, which Russia approved weeks before the Phase 3 studies to prove its safety and effectiveness, is as good as its sponsors say.

Capture has been slow. It was not until December 21 that neighboring Belarus became the first country outside Russia to approve Sputnik V, and Argentina followed it two days later. Argentina vaccinations began on Tuesday with some 300,000 people expected to initially receive the Russian shot, and Belarus began its program on the same day.

But India, Brazil and other major markets are not expected to finish until next year, after further testing.

“Russia uses its vaccine program for soft power diplomacy,” said John Moore, a vaccine researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. “It’s an international race, nationalism is at stake. But it all depends on the vaccines being effective and safe. “

The Russian vaccine was increased in early December when AstraZeneca PLC agreed to try a combination of his inoculation with one of the two traits that make up Sputnik V. Putin participated in the video conference announcing the signing of the deal live on national television.

Still, the 68-year-old leader said on Dec. 17 that he was waiting for the vaccine until people his age were cleaned up.

Putin’s comments blew up Argentine officials, who planned to launch their campaign against the elderly. This week, his spokesman indicated that the president was willing to inoculate himself after the investigation extended the age range for safe use of Sputnik V.

Critics say Russia’s decision to approve the vaccine so quickly, before its developers had published scientific data and after limited trials, undermined confidence. Western officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have described the move as premature, publicly questioning Sputnik’s safety.

Russian officials consider these attacks to be unfair competition, even when polls show that many Russian citizens are skeptical about the safety of available vaccines.

Russian drug is gaining access to some markets. Guinea became the first African nation to start dispensing Sputnik V this week, and Bolivian President Luis Arce signed a will contract the purchase of 5.2 million doses on Wednesday, and 6,000 initials are expected to arrive in January.

Serbia received its first batch of 2,400 shots from Sputnik V and will begin using them in a matter of days, pending the approval of the country’s drug regulator, Deputy Health Minister Mirsad Djerlek said on Wednesday .

Although Dmitriev was optimistic in a September interview with India TV, his hopes of an immediate warm reception from regulators in other countries did not materialize.

“Absolutely safe”

“We are absolutely confident that it will receive emergency approval in various markets around the world as early as November,” he said, arguing that Sputnik is “better, much safer” than Western vaccines that use different technologies.