The World Health Organization announced Wednesday that it will postpone its evaluation of the Russian coronavirus vaccine due to “the unstable situation.”
Dr. Mariangela Simao, a vaccine expert for that UN agency, told a news conference that WHO officials were going to Russia on March 7 to inspect the facility where the Russian vaccine, called Sputnik V, is made.
That was just days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“These inspections have been postponed to a later date,” Simao stated.
“The evaluation and inspections have been affected by the situation,” he added, explaining that the delegation has had problems booking flights and using credit cards, “and other operational issues.”
Western countries have mostly closed their airspace to Russian planes and imposed heavy economic sanctions against Russia and its financial institutions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“This situation has been discussed with Russian officials and a new date will be set as soon as possible,” Simao said.
The WHO has been studying the possibility of approving the Russian vaccine as an emergency since last year. The authorization would allow the Russian vaccine to be used in the UN’s COVAX programme, which distributes vaccines to poor countries, and give credibility to Sputnik V, which has been met with disdain.
A study, published in 2020 by the Lancet in 2020 and involving more than 20,000 people, found that Sputnik V was free of harmful effects, had a 91% efficacy against infection, and had high efficacy in prevention of severe symptoms.
But in October last year, South Africa’s pharmaceutical regulator rejected the Russian vaccine, citing questions the Russian manufacturer was unable to answer. South African authorities fear that the technology used in Sputnik V could have harmful effects on populations with a high incidence of HIV.
The European Medicines Agency says it is still evaluating the effectiveness of Sputnik V, which has been approved in more than 70 countries. To date, no major problems have arisen related to that vaccine.
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