The Russian Government continues in its efforts to dispatch its anti-covid vaccines in the world, except in Cuba, where the authorities have given a monopoly to national products still in the experimental phase. On Friday, the Sputnik agency reported that the Latin American Institute of Mechnikov Biotechnology (ILBM) is working to become “an important supplier of vaccines against covid-19 for Latin America.”
The general manager of the ILBM, Stanislav Uiba, explained to the official agency that the plant seeks to start producing the Russian vaccine CoviVac. In addition, the Mechnikov Institute is “in the process of negotiations” with Bharat Biotech, the Indian manufacturer of Covaxin.
In the same interview, he mentioned collaboration with the Revolving Fund of the Pan American Health Organization, a mechanism through which vaccines, syringes, and other supplies can be purchased on behalf of its member states.
“Soon, God willing, they will be producing here in Nicaragua, at the Latin American Institute of Biotechnology Méchnikov, different vaccines to protect us against covid-19”
The vice president of Nicaragua and wife of Daniel Ortega, Rosario Murillo, confirmed this information in a public intervention, in which he declared that “soon, God willing, different vaccines to protect us against covid-19 will be being produced here in Nicaragua, at the Latin American Institute of Biotechnology Méchnikov.” This institute will manufacture the vaccines in the plant with Russian technology installed in Nicaragua in 2016 and mainly dedicated to manufacturing antidotes for the flu.
It is not the first time, recalls the EFE agency, that Nicaragua announces that it will produce a vaccine against covid-19 with the support of Russia: last August it had already announced the development of Sputnik V, but it has not yet materialized.
Nicaragua, which has reached some 405,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines from different manufacturers, through the Covax mechanism and donations from India and Russia, has been criticized by the local medical union due to the little and scant information on its strategy vaccination.
Meanwhile, Argentina announced on Friday the start of local production of Sputnik V, at the private Richmond laboratory. “On Sunday, God willing, a plane will be leaving Moscow bringing the active principle to start production in Argentina immediately,” Argentine President Alberto Fernández declared during a telematic meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
He stressed that the Russian Fund for Direct Investment has already concluded agreements for the production of the Russian vaccine “in more than a dozen countries” and insisted that the antidote, registered in 66 countries with a total population of more than 3,000 million people, it is 97.6% effective.
Argentina announced on Friday the start of local production of Sputnik V, in the private laboratory Richmond
Last December, Argentina was the first country in Latin America and the second in the world to approve the use of the Russian vaccine, of which more doses have reached Buenos Aires.
Russia was the first country to approve a covid vaccine, Sputnik V, in August last year, ahead of phase 3 clinical trials. The same happened with his other approved vaccines: EpiVacCorona (October 2020), CoviVac (February 2021) and Sputnik Light (this May).
Outside of their country, the experts are leading the way when it comes to judging the antidotes, because, as is the case with the Cuban vaccine candidates Soberana 02, Abdala, Soberana 01, Mambisa and Soberana Plus, independently verified or revised studies are lacking. by experts. At the same time, none of the vaccines have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the World Health Organization (WHO).
Moscow, however, is optimistic, expecting the WHO to approve Sputnik V within two months. As Kirill Dmitriev, director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which markets the product, told Reuters, the EMA is also reviewing the antidote “and there are no critical remarks at the moment at all.”
In the same sense, the Spanish Pedro Mouriño, honorary consul of Russia, spoke in a interview last May with 20Minutos. The businessman, interlocutor between the RDIF and various Spanish regional authorities to bring part of the European Sputnik production to the Grupo Zendal plant in Galicia, trusts that the EMA will authorize the vaccine imminently, and believes that when there is a green light , Spain “will end up doing like Germany, which wants to buy 30 million doses.”
The global campaign carried out by Moscow contrasts with the low confidence of the Russians in the national antidotes: a survey carried out last May by the Levada Center found that 62% of Russians are not willing to be vaccinated with Sputnik V
However, he acknowledges that the Spanish government is cautious about Russian vaccines. “The Russian deputy prime minister did not give many explanations either and they kept that meeting almost secret,” he revealed.
The global campaign carried out by Moscow contrasts with the low confidence of the Russians in the national antidotes: a survey carried out last May by the Levada Center found that 62% of Russians are not willing to be vaccinated with Sputnik V.
According to the authorities, less than 15 million people, just over 10% of the population, have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus with the full schedule and another three million have received the first dose.
“In June we are going to produce 20 million doses a month. We have enough to vaccinate the entire population. And we are going to reach 60% of people vaccinated in Russia in September,” Putin said on Friday in an interview with the main international agencies. of news
Russia, the sixth country in the world by the number of registered infections, accumulates 5,126,437 cases of covid-19 and 123,787 deaths from this disease, 351 of them in the last day.
On the other hand, last March, a report published in The Washington Post, With sources in US officials, he warned that the Russian intelligence services were carrying out a campaign to undermine confidence in the vaccines for COVID-19 developed by Western companies, such as Pfizer or Moderna, through Internet publications that put its safety and efficacy are in doubt.
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