Russia sells millions of doses of its homemade Sputnik V vaccine abroad, making it a key supplier that could give Moscow a valuable share of the global Covid-19 vaccine market and possibly the geopolitical influence in Russia in the developing world earn.
Argentina is the first major country outside Russia to start vaccinating on a large scale with Sputnik. The deployment there, however, highlighted questions regarding the lack of transparency about the effectiveness of the state-sponsored Sputnik V, which has fueled some mistrust among Argentina over its security.
Moscow approved Sputnik V for domestic use in August before the trials were completed. Trial data released since then showed that Sputnik was 91.4% effective in protecting people against Covid-19, and a peer-reviewed study is expected to be published in the coming weeks. About a million Russians got the shot.
Other countries have rushed to buy a vaccine that is cheaper than Western alternatives. Sputnik V, named after the Soviet satellite sent into orbit during the Cold War, is ranked third in the world according to the Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center, according to doses ordered by middle- and low-income countries is, before the American drug manufacturers Pfizer Inc. and Vaccines Modern Inc. and China. Eight countries outside Russia have approved the shot for emergency use.
Sputnik V has nevertheless not been approved or approved by the Western health authorities, which many developing countries rely on to investigate vaccinations. Russia has begun talks with the European Medicines Agency on the approval of the shot in the European Union and has applied for WTO authorization.