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Leaders in France, Germany, and the European Commission are among senior European officials paving the way for approval of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. They are being criticized for delays in the production and delivery of stocks of Pfizer-BioNTech serum for use in the EU. At the same time, health authorities do not recommend the recent AstraZeneca-approved vaccine for people under 65 or even 55 years old. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said that any EU-approved vaccine would be welcome.
France will not block Sputnik V if it receives EU approval
The French Chancellor, Jean-Yves Le Drian, assured this Wednesday that there will be no blockades in his country against the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, as long as it obtains authorization from the health authorities, reports EFE, cited by Agerpres.
” If Sputnik is validated, approved by the European Medicines Agency and, in France, by the High Health Authority, there will be no blockage in its distribution if the (vaccine) meets scientific standards and the resistance and control requirements that are tax in Europe.
Vaccines have no nationality. What matters is having a drug that works, “Le Drian said in an interview with Europe 1, according to AFP.
French President Emmanuel Macron has emphasized that the Russian vaccine cannot be distributed unless the manufacturer requests authorization in the European Union.
“From the moment it is presented, the European authorities and our national authorities will examine the vaccine scientifically, as soon as possible, independently and, depending on the results and tests, they will approve it or not,” Macron explained.
Ursula Von der Leyen and Angela Merkel are open to approving the Russian vaccine
According to information from parliamentary circles, quoted by Die Presse, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was also open to the approval of the vaccine against the Russian coronavirus in the European Union. If Russian and Chinese producers are transparent and disclose “all the facts” about their vaccines, they could get approval, EU lawmakers von der Leyen said on Tuesday.
The Commission is currently receiving strong criticism for the delays in the administration of vaccine doses to EU countries.
Therefore, the EU should stimulate the production of vaccines against Covid-19 by investing in new or existing vaccines. This is what Ursula von der Leyen and the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU propose to the 27 EU states in a letter published by the ‘Salzburger Nachrichten’.
Consequently, there should be “additional investment in the expansion or conversion of existing plants” or in the construction of new plants.
The EU should also mediate agreements between producers along the supply chain. The new approval of the EU budget for seven years (2021-2027) must be used in the best possible way.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also open to approving the Sputnik V vaccine. Every vaccine is “welcome” in the EU, as long as the Medicines Agency recommends it, she said in an interview.
Although the European Medicines Agency approved the AstraZeneca vaccine last week, the German vaccination commission has insisted that it will not be given to people over 65 due to insufficient evidence for this age group.
In Austria, the Health Ministry said Tuesday that the use of other vaccines “will of course be carefully scrutinized” as part of Austria’s vaccination strategy if further EU approvals are obtained.
Earlier, Austrian leader of the federal FPÖ party, Norbert Hofer, said about Sputnik V that it was “an opportunity for Austria”. It is time to contact Russia, “as Hungary has already done successfully,” he said.
Hungary, first country to approve serum
Hungary is the first EU country to approve the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19. Hungary, which has often gone its own way in its EU economic and migration policies, has opted to purchase vaccines from Russia and China to speed up the vaccination campaign.
The Orban government is under pressure to reopen the economy as soon as possible after last year’s pandemic led to the worst recession of the global financial crisis, Reuters notes. Hungary will hold general elections next year.
The Budapest administration has used an emergency authorization process that allows EU states to circumvent the rules by which the EMA (European Medicines Agency) centrally evaluates new treatments of biological origin.
The test results on Sputnik V will encourage countries on the periphery of the EU, such as Serbia and Belarus, which are based on the vaccine, according to Politico.
Why the EU could approve the Russian vaccine
If Russia reveals all the data, the EU could approve the vaccine, which studies show is very effective. According to a study published Tuesday in the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet, Sputnik V is 91.6% effective against symptomatic forms of COVID-19.
But acknowledging the vaccine’s effectiveness in Russia is also putting pressure on European officials trying to stick to the vaccination schedule.
Politico has contacted all health agencies in the EU and the European Economic Area. Respondents included Belgium, Slovakia, Croatia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Estonia, Ireland and Spain; none said they had contact with the team that produced Sputnik. And they didn’t even intend to.
A spokesman for Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is responsible for promoting the vaccine outside of Russia, suggested otherwise, saying that bilateral talks with non-mentioned states in the EU, both in the East and the West, are going ahead.
Germany’s health minister has said he is willing to consider the use of coronavirus vaccines from Russia and China ahead of an emergency summit to find solutions to the cumbersome local vaccination campaign.
If Budapest outshines its neighbors in immunization while the rest of Europe struggles, the Sputnik serum could become irresistible to neighboring countries that have somewhat warmer relations with Moscow, deepening the division in the European Commission’s strategy.
A former Czech health minister has argued that ignoring Sputnik is wrong and that the country should consider getting a vaccine for its own population.
However, this depends on how much vaccine Russia can make. The Russian investment fund did not show how much production is currently online, but said it is targeting 1 billion doses by the end of the year, enough for 500 million people. Russia has manufacturing agreements with several states, including India, Korea, and Brazil. Production in China will start in February.
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soder said EU authorities should urgently review vaccines from Russia and China, leaving room for their efficient and safe use.
Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the production of the Sputnik vaccine at a facility in Germany, following a conversation with President Vladimir Putin.
The question that remains is when to approve the EU. A spokesman for the Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund said he was speaking with the European Medicines Agency. The Sputnik team is submitting more data to the European authority, and the review is scheduled to start this month.
Delays in deliveries
Several EU member states were considering suing AstraZeneca for failure to adhere to the originally established vaccine administration schedule. Each member state of the European Union has a separate supply contract with AstraZeneca.
The European Union acknowledged in early January that there was a “global shortage” of production capacity for COVID vaccines, and Italy announced last week that it could sue Pfizer for delays in delivering doses of the vaccine, its anti-COVID.
The German government has been criticized by the leaders of the 16 states and doctors for acting too slowly and not working hard enough to secure the necessary vaccine stocks, but also for failing to pressure the European Commission to do so. More in an attempt to save people’s lives.
Legal experts in Germany have expressed dissatisfaction with the contract between AstraZeneca and the European Commission, arguing that it is vague and incomplete because it does not specify how much the company will deliver and when.
Read also: How many doses of vaccine has the European Union contracted for its citizens. Delivery schedule
Lower costs
Sputnik could be a lifesaver for many countries. According to the Sputnik team, the vaccine sells for less than $ 10 per dose, much cheaper than the mRNA vaccines produced by BioNTech / Pfize and Moderna, but more than the price of a similar adenovirus vaccine from Oxford / AstraZeneca, which costs between 4 and $ 5 per dose.
It is also stable at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius and is therefore easier to store than mRNA vaccines, which need much lower temperatures. This could be a great advantage for poorer European countries, such as Bulgaria, who did not want to buy vaccines that needed special storage.
Kirill Dmitriyev, director of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which funded the development of the immunizing serum, says:Sputnik V is the vaccine for humanity”.
“The publication in The Lancet shows that Sputnik V is the vaccine for humanity. It is one of the three that have an efficiency greater than 90%, although it is very economical, allows easy logistics and can be stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees centigrade and is based on a very safe and improved adenoviral platform.
The news that the Russian serum that immunizes against Covid-19 is as effective as the best scientific efforts of the West brings joy to areas such as the Middle East and South America, where there are countries that have already approved it.
Editing: Alexandru Costea
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