DISINFO: Ukraine has no other option besides Sputnik V
SUMMARY
The West is not interested in assisting Ukraine in its fight against COVID-19. Therefore Ukraine has no option other than using Sputnik V for its vaccination campaign.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on coronavirus aiming to promote the Sputnik V vaccine and present Russia as a 'leader in COVID-19 management' while portraying the West as unwilling to help Ukraine.
This is a manipulative and misleading narrative suggesting that Ukraine has no other choice but to buy the Russian vaccine Sputnik V. The Ukrainian government has no intentions of acquiring it.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, Ukraine hopes to receive 8 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in the first half of 2021: Ukraine participates in the global COVAX Facility, which has been set up to provide COVID-19 vaccines. The COVAX mechanism is part of the Accelerated Access Initiative, which was also launched by WHO. COVAX is led by three organisations: the World Health Organisation, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Ukraine had also held talks with all possible vaccine manufacturers and suppliers and already issued budget funds for the purchases.
See other similar examples, such as claims that Western attacks on the Russian coronavirus vaccine are a corporate Cold War against humanity; that a report on the Covid-19 situation in Russia aims to discredit the Sputnik V vaccine; that British propaganda tries to dilute the failure of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the Sputnik V; that the WHO and Microsoft sabotaged the Russian vaccine; that Europe is turning to Russia due to its desperate need for a vaccine; or 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.