SPUTNIK VACCINE DEVELOPERS HIT OUT AT EU COMMISSIONER OVER "BIAS" / THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Sputnik vaccine developers hit out at EU commissioner over ‘bias’

Thierry Breton said the bloc had ‘absolutely no need’ for Russian-made jab

Henry Foy in Moscow, Michael Peel in Brussels and Victor Mallet in Paris

Russia has sought to promote exports of Sputnik V to EU countries over the past two months © Bloomberg

Moscow has accused Brussels of “bias” against its Covid-19 vaccine, after the EU’s internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said the bloc had “absolutely no need” to use the jab.

“Commissioner [Thierry Breton] is clearly biased against the Sputnik V vaccine just because it is Russian,” Sputnik V’s developers said in a post on Twitter. “We hope that facts will help [him] to have less hubris and be less biased.

“Biases lead to failures. And Breton’s failures are clear to many people in EU,” they added.

The barbed exchanges came as President Vladimir Putin announced that he would himself be receiving the jab on Tuesday. The Kremlin has since December insisted that Putin intended to be vaccinated, but has given no reasons for the delay.

Hitting back at criticism of Sputnik V, Putin said: “Despite the deliberate discrediting of our vaccine, various misinformation, sometimes outright fables, more and more countries around the world are showing interest in our vaccine.”

Sputnik V’s developers said increasing numbers of EU member states had begun discussions over acquiring or manufacturing the jab, which is yet to be approved by the European Medicines Agency.

A close aide of Breton accused Sputnik’s makers of “pressuring EU officials” and claimed the vaccine would not be available in large quantities until at least next year.

In a subtweet of the Sputnik vaccine’s Twitter post Terence Zakka, Breton’s communication adviser wrote: “Sputnik V pressuring EU officials. The EU already has a full portfolio of safe vaccines and production is ramping up. If EMA approves the Sputnik V vaccines, doses will not be available at large scale before 2022 at the earliest. It’s a fact — not a bias.”

Relations between Moscow and Brussels have sunk to historic lows following the jailing of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny last month and the humiliation of the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on a visit to Moscow shortly after, during which three diplomats from EU states were ordered to leave the country.

The use of Sputnik V has become a controversial issue in the EU, after Hungary and Slovakia issued emergency approval for the jab, bypassing the EMA. A number of EU states are exploring other vaccine supply options because of a first-quarter squeeze, in part because of a big delivery shortfall for the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.

Breton told TF1 television on Sunday evening that the EU needed to give “priority to vaccines made on European soil” and said the Russians were having production problems for Sputnik V, which the EU could help with in the second quarter if required. 

Alexander Grushko, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, told the country’s parliament on Monday that Sputnik V “has faced a campaign of misinformation, discrimination, and demonstrative disregard by European institutions”.

“Attempts to prevent the use of Sputnik V on the territory of the European Union continue, political statements are being made that cannot be interpreted otherwise than purely politicised,” added Grushko, who is responsible for relations with European countries.

Moscow has sought to promote exports of Sputnik V to EU countries over the past two months, alongside striking supply deals with dozens of governments around the world.

Sputnik V’s developers said Breton’s comments would pressure member states to approve the Russian jab individually and not wait for approval from the EMA. “[Breton] believes all is great with EU vaccinations and Sputnik V is not needed. Are Europeans happy with Breton’s vaccination approach?” the tweet said.

Breton said the acute shortages of vaccine doses in the EU would soon be over. “We won’t lack for vaccines, they will be there very soon,” he said. “Today we clearly have in our grasp the capacity to deliver 300m-350m doses between now and the end of June . . . We have the possibility of reaching immunity at the level of the continent.” 

The priority, he added, was to “produce these vaccines en masse and administer them en masse”.