Russia is ready to supply European nations with its Sputnik V jab as it believes people “deserve” to have a choice of vaccines but it is up to the EU to allow it, said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
“We want people to have a choice of vaccines,” Dmitriev told RT. Various drug watchdogs should determine whether such a vaccine is safe but they should not “limit the choice that people deserve to have” for some political reasons, he added, explaining his agency’s position on supplying the pioneering Russian vaccine to other nations and particularly on its pending appraisal in the EU.He also said that the Russian jab is based on an adenoviral vector technology that “has been proven to be safe for decades,” adding that “many people can specifically choose a vaccine based on this technology because of its benefits.”
Still, it is up to the European Medical Agency (EMA) to approve Sputnik V for emergency use in Europe, he said, adding that, although Moscow is “definitely open” to such a possibility, it is absolutely not “insisting” on supplying the vaccine, not least because it already has a vast market.
“Sputnik V is now registered in 44 nations with a total population of 1.2 billion,” and Russia is only working with “countries or blocs that really want to have a Russian vaccine,” Dmitriev said. Still, he said that Moscow will work “very closely” with the EMA now, as it has launched the review of Sputnik V and looks forward to having EMA specialists visit the vaccine production facilities.
The head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, which financed the development of Sputnik V and oversaw the deals on its production and supplies abroad, called the reviewers appointed by the EMA “real professionals” and expressed his hope that their decision would be based on “science and not on politics.”
Dmitriev also said that interest in the Russian vaccine is growing among EU nations, and specifically praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for their measured and “pragmatic” approach, as well as for the support those leaders provided to Russia in its dealings with the EMA.
Two EU nations – Hungary and Slovakia – already approved the Russian jab for emergency use at a national level prior to the EMA decision. Dmitriev believes more European nations would follow suit in the near future, since his agency had already been approached by “some other” states as well.
There are still “barriers” the Russian jab needs to overcome on its way to the European market, including those of mistrust and the lobbying resources of big Western pharmaceutical companies that apparently seek to avoid competition, Dmitriev believes.
The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) hopes that the situation will soon change: “There is a road we all need to take and this is the road to saving people’s lives. Many politicians start to understand that rather than being an obstacle to giving people a choice of vaccines it is better to speed things up.”
A publication in the prestigious medical journal the Lancet showed that the Russian vaccine has an efficacy of 91.6 percent. Based on the data of the jab’s Phase III trials on 19,866 volunteers, it also demonstrated that the vaccine is even slightly more effective for people over 60, and prevents severe coronavirus cases.
Like this story? Share it with a friend!
Russia is ready to supply European nations with its Sputnik V jab as it believes people “deserve” to have a choice of vaccines but it is up to the EU to allow it, said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Read Full Article at RT.com Read More
Earlier this year Russia alleged that Ukraine and the United States were developing biological weapons. The development of these weapons has been banned since the signing of a convention on the topic in 1971. These reports are all dismissed by the Western mainstream media that alleged it was Russian disinformation. Unfortunately for the Western media […]
The Pending Collapse Of The “Rules-Based International Order” Is An Existential Threat To The US Authored by Scott Ritter via GlobalResearch.ca, For decades, America styled itself the ‘indispensable nation’ that led the world & it’s now seeking to sustain that role by emphasizing a new Cold War-style battle against ‘authoritarianism’. But it’s a dangerous fantasy. […]
(Do Not) Let The Games Begin! Could Japan still cancel the Tokyo Olympics over COVID? As Statista’s Felix Richter notes, recent comments from Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga have driven speculation that the Summer Games could be called off. As COVID-19 infections rise in Japan, public support for the Games continues to drop. Just around 70 […]
