Putin struggles to sell vaccine from Russia in new fight with the West

Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg

Russia is accusing the West of defaming its achievements in the global race to defeat Covid-19, while attempts to win important markets for its Sputnik V vaccine meet the demands of regulators.

“We understand the game,” said Kirill Dmitriev, executive director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which supported the development of Sputnik V and negotiates its international rollout. “It is a combination of some misunderstanding, some strong prejudice and, in fact, some very strong efforts to undermine the Russian vaccine.”

Like neighboring China, which is struggling to reassure nations that test their vaccines, Russia’s effort to convert what it calls a scientific triumph into geopolitical dividends has hit unexpected headwinds.

President Vladimir Putin has promoted inoculation in links with other world leaders since he announced Russia’s approval of Sputnik V in August as the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine. But regulators in many countries are unwilling to give Sputnik V quick approval – even as they welcome vaccines from the United States and Europe that first completed comprehensive testing.

The dispute for access brings echoes of the Cold War space race triggered by the launch, in 1957, of the first satellite in the world, Sputnik, by the Soviet Union, which gave its name to the Russian vaccine. While Moscow was the first in space, it was overtaken by the United States, which landed a man on the moon 12 years later.

Russian authorities blame prejudice for Sputnik’s difficulties. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently described the vaccine race as the last phase of a long “war” of disinformation against Russia.

Regulators who have demanded more data say they are just trying to ensure that Sputnik V, which Russia approved weeks before Phase 3 studies to show that its safety and effectiveness began, is as good as its supporters say.

Acceptance has been slow. Only on December 21 did neighboring Belarus become the first country outside Russia to approve Sputnik V, and Argentina followed it two days later. Argentina began vaccination on Tuesday with about 300,000 people who are expected to receive the Russian vaccine initially, and Belarus started its program on the same day.

But India, Brazil and other major markets are not expected to sign until next year, after more tests are done.

“Russia is using its vaccine program for soft power diplomacy,” said John Moore, a vaccine researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. “It is an international race, nationalism is at stake. But it all depends on whether the vaccines are effective and safe ”.

The Russian vaccine gained momentum in early December, when AstraZeneca PLC agreed to test a combination of its inoculation with one of the two shots that make up Sputnik V. Putin participated in the videoconference announcing the signing of the agreement live on national network.

Still, the 68-year-old leader said on December 17 that he was waiting to receive the vaccine until it was released to people his age.

Putin’s comments puzzled Argentine officials, who planned to start their campaign against the elderly. His spokesman this week indicated that the president is now willing to be vaccinated after the research has extended the age group for the safe use of Sputnik V.

Critics say Russia’s decision to approve the vaccine so quickly, before its developers published scientific data and after only a few tests, undermined confidence. Western officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, described the action as premature, publicly questioning Sputnik’s safety.

Russian authorities consider these attacks to be unfair competition, although research shows that many of Russian citizens themselves are skeptical about the safety of available vaccines.

The Russian drug is gaining access to some markets. Guinea became the first African nation to start dismissing Sputnik V this week, and Bolivian President Luis Arce signed a contract on Wednesday to buy 5.2 million doses, with an initial 6,000 expected to arrive in January.

Serbia received its first batch of 2,400 injections of Sputnik V and will begin using them within a few days, pending approval by the country’s drug regulator, Deputy Health Minister Mirsad Djerlek said on Wednesday.

Although Dmitriev was optimistic in a September interview for TV India, his hopes for an immediate warm welcome from regulators in other countries did not materialize.

‘Absolutely confident’

“We are absolutely confident that it will receive emergency approval in several markets around the world as early as November,” he said, arguing that Sputnik is “better, much safer” than Western vaccines that use different technologies.