DISINFO: Recognising vaccines is a political and economic decision
SUMMARY
Recognising the American Moderna vaccine as the best among vaccines against Coronavirus by the World Vaccine Congress is an economic and political decision.
We are talking about vaccines costing $ 100 billion, and recognition of the Sputnik V vaccine means that this money will go to Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation claims about the West recognising and authorising vaccines based on political rather than scientific bases. The claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
In Europe, the European Medicine Agency (EMA) has initiated a rolling review of Sputnik V vaccine on the 4 March, 2021, and the decision will be decided on a scientific, not political, basis. The EMA is committed to applying the same regulatory approach and scientific rigour to all vaccine applications that meet European requirements for safety, efficacy and quality and is in dialogue with more than 50 vaccine developers from across the globe, including the Sputnik V developers from Russia.
In the US, only three vaccines are authorised for emergency use, which excludes many of the other Western vaccines such as AstraZeneca, and not only Sputnik V.
Russia is only administering its own vaccines, which is causing the vaccination campaign to move at slower pace for a vaccine-producing country. Russia's heavy disinformation campaigns regarding the pandemic and vaccines might have helped create a situation where 60-70% of its population are disinclined to be vaccinated, which is one of the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy in the world.
To boost demand for the vaccines, the authorities are offering cash coupons to those over 60 who get vaccinated. This seems not yet yielding a break through as data shows that only 8% of the population received at least one shot of the vaccine by the end of April 2021, despite Russia boasting about being ahead of everyone else in registering a Covid-19 vaccine.
See related disinformation cases alleging that the EMA will try to postpone the authorisation of Sputnik V, that the EMA's delay in approving Sputnik V is political; and that Russian vaccine opponents are trying to eradicate trust in Sputnik V.