“Nothing needs to be stolen,” said Kirill Dmitriev, who is also involved in coordinating Russia’s search for a vaccine. “It is all given to Russia.” According to Dmitriev, the Russian deal with the company is intended to supplement, not replace, a home-grown vaccine. Moscow focuses on that own vaccine in the first instance. The amount of money involved in the deal has not been released.
Russia received strong criticism from the West on Thursday. British, US and Canadian security agencies reported cyber attacks on laboratories and the UK government on the leakage of sensitive information. In doing so, an accusing finger was pointed at Russia. The Russian government immediately denied that it had attempted to steal information about the development of a corona vaccine.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is one of the leading candidates in the search for a well-functioning drug against Covid-19, according to the World Health Organization WHO. Earlier, other European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, had already signed an agreement with the group for the experimental vaccine.
–
