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MOSCOW: Some Russians took to social media on Friday (December 25) to express their frustration after 300,000 doses of the country’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine were supplied to Argentina, arguing that more injections should be available at home.
Although the vaccine is available in Moscow, relatively small batches have so far been delivered to many regions of Russia as part of a mass inoculation program, with several reporting receiving 2,000 or fewer doses so far.
Novgorod has received 600 doses for civilian use so far, according to a local government official. Kaliningrad has received 400, according to the Interfax news agency.
“Then they better rush to Argentina to get vaccinated,” Alexander, a Kaliningrad resident, said on Twitter.
The Samara region has received 2,751 doses of Sputnik V for civilian use, according to local officials, and another 1,000 for military members based there.
“Awesome! 3,000 for Samara, while Argentina gets 300,000 …” wrote another Twitter user, Maria.
The Russian Health Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the regional shortage of vaccine doses.
Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines has become a problem around the world as rich nations, including Europe and the United States, secure hundreds of millions of doses of various injections, while the poorest countries face more difficulties accessing supplies.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visits the facilities of the biotechnology company BIOCAD that produces the Gam-COVID-Vac, also known as Sputnik-V, against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Saint Petersburg, Russia , on December 25, 2020. (Photo: Sputnik / Dmitry Astakhov / Pool via REUTERS)
Russia has announced several international agreements for the supply of Sputnik V, named after the Soviet-era satellite that triggered the space race, in a nod to the project’s geopolitical importance for Moscow. So far, regulators in Argentina and Belarus have approved the use of the vaccine.
Russian officials have said that international orders for Sputnik V would be fulfilled primarily with doses produced by manufacturers abroad.
“The Russians are the top priority,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this month. “And the domestic production … will specifically meet the needs of the Russians.”
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the sovereign wealth fund responsible for marketing Sputnik V abroad, has closed international manufacturing agreements with vaccine manufacturers in India, South Korea, China and Brazil.
The RDIF declined to comment on whether the doses shipped to Argentina, the first tranche of a 10 million-dose deal, were produced in Russia or abroad, or on criticism expressed by some citizens about domestic supplies.
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