Russia's covid-19 vaccine was produced in a state-run laboratory with the support of a domestic direct investment fund. However, to achieve the goal of vaccinating nearly a tenth of the world's population, Russia must rely on factories in Brazil, India and South Korea.
With limited production capacity at home, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which deals with the distribution of Sputnik V, has turned to partner countries that have large capacities for drug production, writes the Financial Times (FT).
So he entrusted the future of the vaccine to a vast network of private companies operating under different national regulatory bodies, some of which told the FT it would be months before they could start full production.
RDIF told the British newspaper that it had signed contracts with 15 manufacturers in 10 countries for the production of 1,4 billion vaccines, enough to immunize 700 million people.
Those contracts mean the RDIF relies on foreign factories to produce twice as many vaccines as Russian companies. Factories in China, South Korea, India and Iran will produce vaccines that can be exported to third countries, while factories in Brazil and Serbia will primarily meet domestic needs.
Last November, Russian state television announced that an adenovirus-based vaccine was "as simple and reliable as a Kalashnikov assault rifle." However, experts in many Western countries have expressed doubts about the lack of complete test results, saying that Russia has subordinated security to national prestige.
However, after a study this month found the vaccine to be 91,6 percent effective -- tied with Bayontek/Pfizer and Moderne's mRNA vaccines -- Sputnik V now aspires to become one of Russia's biggest exports, like the Kalashnikov. FT.
While mRNA vaccines must be stored at ultra-low temperatures, making their transport trickier and more expensive, Sputnik V is attractive to many low-income countries because it costs ten dollars and is stored at temperatures between two and eight degrees Celsius.
Russia presents the vaccine as both a scientific achievement and an instrument of diplomatic soft power, making it particularly attractive to countries that feel they are being squeezed out of rich-nation global pharmaceutical deals.
However, questions remain about how quickly Sputnik V's global production network will be able to meet demand from more than 50 countries. Manufacturers in India and Brazil, countries where RDIF forecasts more than half of global production, told the British newspaper that they have yet to start mass production of the vaccine.
Six pharmaceutical companies in Russia produce the vaccine, and they are "almost 100 percent" for domestic use, said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the RDIF. He added that they will be aimed at export markets after June, when Russia's needs are met. Dmitriev dismissed claims that supplies were already running low after Hungary said it would receive only 100.000 doses this month, three times less than expected.
Why does it export if it lags behind in immunization?
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said yesterday that Russia should explain why it offers to sell millions of doses of its vaccine against the coronavirus to other countries while lagging behind in immunizing its citizens.
More and more countries in Central and Eastern Europe are "warming up" for the Sputnik V vaccine, even though it has not yet received regulatory approval from the European Union. Croatia and Slovakia announced yesterday that they are negotiating with Russia on the procurement of the vaccine. Von der Leyen said that Russia should allow the inspection of its production sites and submit all data for inspection as part of the regulatory approval process, the "Politiko" portal reported.
"We still wonder why Russia is theoretically offering millions and millions of doses until it has made sufficient progress in immunizing its entire population," said the head of the EC.
European Union members lag behind the US and Britain in vaccine distribution, creating political pressure on governments to speed up immunization programs. Production problems have raised questions about whether the EU should turn to vaccines from Russia and China.
EU member states can approve the use of a vaccine without formal approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), in which case the responsibility rests with the member states, not the manufacturer.
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Croatia will not wait for the EU either
Croatia announced yesterday that it is negotiating with Russia on the procurement of a vaccine against covid-19 before it is approved by the EMA.
"The optimal would be EMA approval, but that takes longer. It is up to our regulatory agency to tell us if it is possible to obtain the Russian vaccine in some other way through interventional import," said Minister of Health Vili Beroš at the press conference of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, Beta reported.
He pointed out that the basic condition for procuring the Russian vaccine is its safety and effectiveness. When it is established that these conditions are met, the Croatian agency can enable the use of an unapproved drug independently of the EMA, he explained.
The spokesman of the Russian embassy in Croatia, Matvej Sidorov, said that the Russian vaccine could come to Croatia in a week or two, provided that the Croatian and Russian sides reach an agreement.
Hungary is the only EU member to start using Russian and Chinese vaccines without waiting for EMA approval.
Slovakia is also in negotiations with Russia about the purchase of Sputnik V, local media announced yesterday.
Sputnik is an "excellent vaccine with great efficiency", Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič announced on Facebook.
Health Minister Marek Krajci said the vaccine should be used if it is found to be safe and that the local drug agency would have to assess the production process.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said earlier that his country would consider approving Sputnik V, but later said he would wait for the EMA's green light. Sputnik is already being used in Serbia, whose president Aleksandar Vučić has announced large investments in the domestic production of that vaccine.
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