A staff member at the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Ministry of Health, which produces a COVID-19 vaccine.
Vyacheslav Prokofyev | TASS | Getty Images
The head of Russia’s vaccine development agency has claimed that Western research institutes are trying to lure scientists away to work for them.
Alexander Gintsburg claimed that attempts to push scientists from Russia to work in Europe and the US did not work. Gintsburg is the head of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, which developed Russia’s vaccine against coronavirus, which was approved by regulation last week.
“Our researchers have been working at the Gamaleya Institute for ten years … Every American or European university can only dream of such researchers. And they seek to attract them. But they can not,” Gintsburg told the Rossiya -1 television channel on Sunday, reported Russian news agency Tass. Gintsburg provided no evidence of his claim, nor did he name any specific institutions.
Russia registered its coronavirus vaccine on August 11, making it the first country in the world to do so. The vaccine has only undergone Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials involving a limited number of participants. Russia said Phase 3 trials on a larger cohort of people would begin in August.
Western health officials reacted to Russia’s announcement about the vaccine with skepticism and concern, questioning the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, as no data on the results of the clinical trials have been published. Russia has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Russia’s intelligence have been made more than once.
Gintsburg said the West’s negative reaction was predictable.
“I would call it a natural negative reaction from Western companies to the emergence of a Russian production that they did not expect. So, I think we should ignore these negative things that are being sent to us,” he said. the television Rossiya-1 interview.
Russia has denied being part of a ‘weapons race’ to develop a vaccine, saying it wants to cooperate with other nations. But the country’s urgency to register a vaccine, and its claim that it will start mass production in September, hints at a competitive stance when it comes to coronavirus vaccine development.
Even the name of Russia’s vaccination, “Sputnik V”, gives a nod to the world’s first satellite launched by Russia in 1957 during the Cold War space race.
Tensions between Russia and the West have resumed in recent months, with the United Kingdom, Canada and the US accusing Russia of trying to steal ‘coronavirus vaccine research information’, a charge that Moscow has denied.
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