Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday March 22 that he would be vaccinated on Tuesday against Covid-19 with the Sputnik V vaccine. He also denounced the “strange” statements by a senior European official who said that Europe did not need the Russian Covid vaccine. Vladimir Putin, whose vaccination has been expected since December in accordance with his promise, did not specify whether he would be injected with this vaccine, the first developed by Russia, which has meanwhile announced that it has designed two others.
A few minutes earlier, during a meeting on vaccination by videoconference broadcast on television, the Russian president had lost his temper against the European Union, after remarks by European Commissioner Thierry Breton on the Russian vaccine. “We don’t force anyone to do anything […], but we wonder about the interests defended by these people, those of pharmaceutical companies or those of European citizens, ”he said.
Producers of the Russian coronavirus vaccine on Monday accused European Commissioner Thierry Breton of having a “biased” approach for asserting that the EU “absolutely does not need” Sputnik V. Speaking on the French channel TF1 Sunday, Thierry Breton, who is in charge of the industrial aspects of the manufacture of vaccines against the Covid-19 in the EU, suggested that it would be Moscow which would need European aid because Russia has a “mad evil” to manufacture ”the Sputnik V.
4.3 million Russians fully vaccinated, according to Putin
The vaccination campaign in the EU suffered many hitches, in particular due to delays in deliveries. Russia claims to be at the forefront in this area. Vladimir Putin actually said on Monday that 4.3 million Russians had received the two necessary doses to date, for a population of 146 million.
As an application for approval is being examined by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a group of experts from this agency is expected in Russia on April 10 to study clinical trials for Sputnik V, a said Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko. Initially greeted with skepticism abroad when it was announced in the summer, the Sputnik V saw its reliability validated in February by the scientific journal. The Lancet.
The EU has criticized Moscow for its vaccine diplomacy, accusing it of “propaganda” to gain influence on the international scene with very limited vaccine deliveries.
Russia is seeking to increase production agreements to supply abroad rather than export, reserving its reduced capacities to supply the Russian population. Moscow has notably signed in recent days three agreements for the production of 652 million doses in India. According to the Russian Sovereign Fund (RDIF), which partially funded the development of Sputnik V, the vaccine is now authorized in 55 countries, covering 1.4 billion people.
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