DISINFO: Politics should not play a role in vaccinations, Sputnik V is a target of an information campaign
SUMMARY
Slovakian citizens must have the possibility of choosing a vaccine – be it from the West or from the East. Hungary and Serbia are examples of good vaccination strategies. The European Commission will always boycott other initiatives that work outside its structure.
Current vaccination is followed by an active information campaign, whose target is the Russian vaccine Sputnik V. The discussion about the Russian vaccine sometimes includes topics such as Russian totalitarianism or so-called “hybrid threats” – and so politics is unnecessarily dragged into the fight against the novel coronavirus.
RESPONSE
Disinformation about vaccines and Sputnik V.
There is no "war" against Sputnik V vaccine. On contrary, Russian and British scientists teamed up to trial a combination of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines to see if protection against Covid-19 can be improved.
On February 2, interim results from a phase 3 trial of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine were finally published inThe Lancet medical journal. The trial results show a consistent strong protective effect across all participant age groups, meaning that the Sputnik V vaccine candidate appears safe and effective. Nonetheless, the producer of Sputnik V has not yet applied for a marketing authorization in the EU (as of 9, February, 2021). The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is in contact with the Russian producer of the Sputnik V vaccine and provides scientific advice. EU is not against Sputnik V if it can satisfy the same requirements as other vaccines.
See related disinformation cases alleging that the UK launched a smear campaign against Russian vaccine; and that the West criticises the Sputnik V because it can’t accept Russia’s primacy and because its pharmaceutical companies will lose billions of dollars.