According to Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Europe must be open to the uptake and use of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, amid what it describes as a ‘Pfizer monopoly’ across the region. .
Dmitriev at RDIF, which supported the development of the coronavirus vaccine in Russia, told CNBC that the vaccine could be useful for Europe where Covid vaccination programs are progressing slowly.
“It is very important that Europe is open to different vaccines, because it is not good to have a Pfizer monopoly in Europe,” Dmitriev told CNBC’s Street Signs Europe on Monday.
“It is good to have AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and other vaccines so that the prices are reasonable and Europe is not subject to a monopolistic vaccine that may be being created.”
Coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, and the vaccine from Pfizer and the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech are currently the predominant shots used in Europe. The former, however, has been the subject of investigations by the European Medicines Agency into concerns that it may be linked to a small number of rare but serious blood clots in people who have been vaccinated.
Similar concerns affected the Johnson & Johnson shot (soon to be launched in the EU), but after investigations, the EMA considered the benefits of both shots to outweigh the risks.
There are now anecdotal reports about Europeans refusing the AstraZeneca shot, which is cheaper to produce and buy, and instead asking for the Pfizer BioNTech shot. CNBC contacted Pfizer for a response to Dmitriev’s comments.
In the meantime, there is a dispute in the EU over the possible use of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, which was initially the subject of doubt about its clinical data and safety standards and which was recently seen by Russia as’ a geopolitical tool. sold the vaccine to various countries around the world, mainly to its allies.
Interim analysis of phase 3 clinical trials of the shot, which involved 20,000 participants and was published in peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet in early February, found that it was 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 infection. The EMA is currently evaluating the clinical data before a possible authorization of the shot could pave the way for the use of the vaccine in the EU.
Several countries in Eastern Europe have shown interest in, or purchased or deployed doses of the vaccine, including Hungary, despite the fact that it has not yet been approved by the EMA.
Such purchases were not without controversy: for example, Slovakia’s drug agency claimed earlier in April that the doses of Sputnik V he received were not the same as those judged by international experts. Russia has responded by demanding that Slovakia return hundreds of thousands of doses, citing breaches of contract, Reuters reported.
RDIF’s chief executive said negotiations had taken place over Germany and a number of other countries over vaccines, although he did not name them. However, it is also known that France has been in talks with Russia over possible purchases of the vaccine.
Dmitriev said he hoped the EMA would complete the evaluation of the shot by June. “We are very clear that we can deliver 50 million doses of the vaccine … from June to September in Europe.”