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“We have the capacity to supply up to 700 million vaccines this year. Kirill Dmitryev, executive director of the Russian State Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which supported the development of Sputnik V vaccines and is responsible for their production in foreign markets, said in an interview on Wednesday. “The biggest producers will be India, China and South Korea.”
Russia’s successful efforts to persuade some 50 countries to approve the vaccine so far have bolstered its global ambitions, with several million doses of the vaccine already delivered to Latin American countries, primarily Argentina and Mexico.
However, production rates are slower than initially anticipated by RDIF and interest in vaccination in Russia is lagging behind. Dmitryev declined to comment on the current capabilities of vaccines in foreign manufacturing companies, alluding only to their “importance.”
The United States is currently injecting more vaccines every two weeks than Russia has produced Sputnik V since the epidemic began.
So far, international vaccine deliveries remain relatively low, and Russia is rushing to increase production. Around 13 million tonnes have been produced in Russia itself. Two-dose sets, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova spoke last week. The RDIF does not publish data on how many were shipped abroad, and the Kremlin claims that exports do not affect local stocks. According to public statements from beneficiary countries, up to 4 million have been received.
According to RDIF, the Sputnik vaccine is used in about 30 countries; For comparison, Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine is used in 64 countries, 95 million of its doses have already been injected worldwide.
Despite political pressure, Russia does not offer concessions to low-income countries by offering them Sputnik vaccines. In Africa and Latin America, the Sputnik vaccine sells for the same price, around $ 10 per dose, as in the rest of the world.
Earlier this week, Russia made progress in achieving its goal of producing the Sputnik vaccine in the European Union. Russia’s RDIF, which markets Sputnik V, has announced an agreement to produce vaccines in Italy, as well as talks with France and Germany. The Community of 27 is currently examining an application for approval of the use of Sputnik V.
In total, RDIF has production contracts in ten countries, Dmitriev said.
Russia has so far vaccinated five million people or injected about five doses for every 100 adults; By comparison, the corresponding figure is 36 in the UK, nearly 29 in the US and around 10 in the EU, according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker. If vaccination rates remained similar, 70 percent. The Russian population would not be vaccinated before 2022. Officials hope to reach that goal in August this year.
Russia has high hopes that the “exponential growth in domestic production” will speed up domestic vaccinations, Dmitryev said. At the end of June, 40-50 million. population, all those who want to get vaccinated should get vaccinated, he said, without explaining what could drive demand.
To date, the vaccination process is hampered by the lack of vaccines in some regions and, according to opinion polls, the reluctance of Russians to get vaccinated, even if the vaccine is offered free of charge.
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