DISINFO: EU leadership prepares a new smear campaign against Russian vaccine
SUMMARY
The leadership of the European Union is preparing to organize a new smear campaign against the vaccines produced in Russia, under the allegation that Moscow is provoking an anti-vaccination movement abroad.
RESPONSE
This claim is provided with no evidence and is consistent with claims that the EU is basing its vaccines strategy on a political rather than a scientific basis. The claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
In reality, there is no evidence of EU bias against the Russian vaccine. In Europe, the European Medicine Agency (EMA) has initiated a rolling review of the Sputnik V vaccine on 4 March 2021. The EMA applies the same regulatory approach to all vaccine applications to make sure applicants meet European requirements for safety, efficacy and quality regardless of their country of origin. What is more, EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke, said she hoped the Sputnik V vaccine would be approved.
On the other hand, Russia is only administering its own vaccines, which is causing the vaccination campaign to move rather slowly for a vaccine-producing country. Russia's heavy disinformation campaigns regarding the pandemic and vaccines might be linked to the fact that 60-70% of its population are disinclined to be vaccinated, which is one of the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy in the world.
Pro-Kremlin media often quote an article in The Lancet magazine, which showed 91.6 per cent effectiveness of Sputnik V without considerable side effects. However, there have been some doubts as to its efficacy, especially where the trial procedures are concerned (see here and here.) Recently, in the Lancet article published 12 May 2021 critical questions about the Sputnik V data for phase III clinical trial were raised.
See related disinformation cases alleging that Russian vaccine opponents are trying to eradicate trust in Sputnik V, the EMA will try to postpone the authorisation of Sputnik V, that Europe has politicised the Covid-19 vaccines from the very beginning, and that the EMA's delay in approving Sputnik V is political.