PARIS – France today accused Russia of using the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine as a tool to spread Moscow’s influence and message rather than as a way to fight the global health crisis.
“In terms of how it is managed, it (the vaccine) is more of a means of propaganda and aggressive diplomacy than solidarity and health aid,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Info radio.
The Russian jab has come under much criticism in Western countries, while President Vladimir Putin – who received the vaccine himself on Tuesday – has dismissed the scepticism as “strange”.
Le Drian said both Russia and China are using their coronavirus vaccines to gain influence abroad “even before vaccinating their own populations”.
He said Russia has announced “with a lot of media attention” that it will deliver 30,000 vaccine doses to Tunisia.
But, the United Nations-backed Covax initiative has already delivered 100,000 doses to the North African country, with 400,000 more to come by May, he said.
“That is what real solidarity work looks like, that is true health cooperation.”
Russia registered Sputnik V last August ahead of large-scale clinical trials, prompting worries among many experts over the fast-tracked process.
Later reviews have been largely positive, with leading medical journal The Lancet publishing results showing it is safe and more than 90% effective.
The European Medicines Agency this month launched a rolling review of Sputnik V, a key step towards it being approved as the first non-Western Covid-19 jab to be used across the 27-nation bloc. – AFP, March 26, 2021
