Articles mocking I. Šimonytė – with the spice of disinformation about Sputnik V

Anger post on Twitter

A good week ago, Šimonytė wrote on his account on the social network Twittter: “They say that Sputnik V is good (vaccine), but Putin does not seek to use it to treat the Russian people – he offers it to the world as another hybrid weapon to broken and managed. This is neither news nor good for humanity. “

A little earlier that day at a press conference Prime Minister Says Lithuania Does Not Intend to Buy Sputnik V Vaccine. “This vaccine has not been registered in any European Union (EU) country and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not really evaluated it,” said I. Šimonyt señaló.

A few days later, speaking on the LRT radio, she He reiterated that our country would not buy the vaccine even if it was approved by the EVA.

Website bukimevieningi.lt, who often publishes misleading information, was quick to ridicule the words of the head of government: that his words are just talk and wishful thinking.

The Sputnik V vaccine was recently revealed in the prestigious Lancet medical journal clinical data available and indicated that its effectiveness is 91.6%. Recalling this, the author of one of the website’s posts rhetorically asked: “How can any Šimonytė evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine and its reliability when half the world is already preparing to buy this Sputnik V vaccine?”

This statement is not true. It is true that some countries have already decided to buy Russian vaccines and large quantities (for example, India 100 million, Nepal and Egypt 25 million each, Argentina and Venezuela 10 million each, Mexico 7.4 million, Bolivia (5.2 million doses, Iran – 5 million doses), half the world.

Website statista.com data, there were 20 such countries on February 10, including Hungary, the only EU member). A total of 50 countries have expressed their desire for Sputnik V, a vaccine already registered in 23 and used in three. By the way, you do not plan to buy this vaccine. announced by Moldova, which is often considered a friendly country of Russia.

The article quotes “Bloomberg” the claim that “countries are lining up to supply Sputnik V”, but even this report from the US media giant cannot give the impression of half the world: the vaccine has already been approved by 20 countries.

Confused the embassy

Just on the day that Twitter mentioned the Šimonytė post, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, visited Moscow.

After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, hope expressedthat the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine developed in Russia will be confirmed by EVA in the near future. “This is good news for all mankind,” Borrell said.

The Lithuanian Prime Minister replied that the vaccines were not approved by this official, but by the RVA. By the way, after the visit, J. Borrell received a lot of criticism for his pro-Russian attitude, first of all, for not expressing a strong position on the jailed opposition activist Alexei Navaln.

At the end of last year, J. Borrell resentfulthat Russian state media is spreading false information about European and American vaccines in countries, especially in countries where Sputnik V is expected to be sold

The article, which pokes fun at I. Šimonytė, quotes the words of Leonid Sluckis, the head of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, that I. Šimonytė’s comments are simply “Russophobic delusion”, show anger and jealousy.

It was added that the Lithuanian Embassy on Twitter noted that despite the wave of misinformation and similar preconceptions at all stages of vaccine development and use, the internationally recognized Sputnik V indicators say it all. “The most important thing is that mass vaccinations are already taking place in Russia. And in Lithuania? ”- a cited entry.

A real record showed up, just not in Lithuania, but On the account of the Russian Embassy in Lithuania.

Only one in three residents would like to be vaccinated

Russia announces Sputnik V as the first registered vaccine against COVID-19. It was registered by the Ministry of Health of this country in 2020. in mid-August. It is remembered and bukimevieningi.lt Article.

But these compliments to Russia are not entirely accurate. The Chinese CanSino vaccine was allowed to use at the end of last June, it’s true only for the military and before the investigation is completed.

I. Šimonytė “claims that Russia does not vaccinate its people with this vaccine” – is shocked by the article that aims to ridicule the Prime Minister. It is also indicated here that by the end of January 2 million people had already been vaccinated. Russian.

According to the Russian direct investment fund, which invested in the development of the vaccine, this week paskelbė “Deutsche Welle”, has already been vaccinated in more than a million people. The development of a COVID-19 vaccine was a source of national pride for the country, but the population does not seem to be very impressed.

The results of a poll published by the Levadas Center in December showed that up to 58 percent. residents do not want to get vaccinated with Sputnik V. Website statista.com Announced even more negative data– Only 30 percent of people will definitely want or tend to get vaccinated with this vaccine. Up to 42 percent. said “definitely not”, 28 percent. – “rather not”.

Although the vaccine is already available for almost all age groups, vaccines can be administered without registration, and one serving of ice cream is administered per needle in perhaps Moscow’s most famous shopping center, EMU, and the vaccination campaign is quite slow.

According to the authorities, 68 million people are scheduled to be vaccinated this year. population and thus create herd immunity.

We created Bloomberg on a website where you can track vaccines around the world, it is reported that 2.2 million have been injected in Russia since January, when vaccination began. dose.

The vaccination rate is 1.5 doses per 100 people (an average of 35,000 people are vaccinated daily). Russia ranks 47th out of all countries in this regard, Lithuania ranks 17th (5.45 doses).

The first doses in Russia received about 1.5 percent. population (country number 40), in Lithuania – 3.5 proc. (received the first dose 98 062 people). In Russia, the second dose of the vaccine has not yet been administered to anyone, in our country – 54,342 people.

So I’m in a hurry to change the laws

The Russian government approved Sputnik V in August. The vaccine was initially criticized for its rush to develop and a lack of transparent information. The country, like China, has made unusual decisions, allowing the vaccines it has developed to be distributed before full-scale testing has been completed.

Back to Russia in April it was decidedthat it is not necessary to wait until the end of the third stage of testing to approve the vaccine. Although some countries have followed suit one after another and turned on the green light for Sputnik V, I had to trust the Russians themselves provide information on efficiency and safety.

Even the Lancet article, cited by many, is based on interim research. During the tests, Sputnik V received only 15 thousand. significantly fewer people than, say, Pfizer / BioNTech or Modernos.

However, in Lithuania and some other Central and Eastern European countries, this vaccine is skeptical not only for medical reasons. Although Borrell said the EU was open to Sputnik V in the eastern part of the continent it is also a political question.

It is also recognized that the vaccine is a successful public relations move of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

L. Sluckis, already mentioned, explained that Russia is open to cooperation in the fight against the pandemic. The same website where it is quoted asks: “Will there be people who believe this time that the vaccine created by Russia is a weapon against Europe and Lithuania?”

However, this country, which is so eager to participate in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, was and continues to be, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. one of the most active disseminators of misinformation about coronavirus and vaccines. These conclusions are supported by data collected by the European External Action Service.

By the way, the pro-Kremlin media even stepped up the idea that the COVID-19 outbreak in general it’s a hoax. At the same time, an apocalyptic scenario was presented that the Schengen system had collapsed as a result of the pandemic (because countries had closed their borders), the EU was paralyzed and could not do without help from Russia.

The post was prepared in 15 minutes. in collaboration with Facebook, which aims to stop the spread of misleading news on the social network. More about the program and its rules – here.