EU considers getting a vaccine boost from Russia's Sputnik

BRUSSELS: Publicly, the European Union has dismissed Russia’s global coronavirus vaccine supply campaign as a propaganda stunt by an undesirable regime.

Behind the scenes, the bloc is turning to Moscow’s Sputnik V shot as it tries to get its stuttering efforts to vaccinate its 450 million people back on track, EU diplomatic and official sources told Reuters.

An EU official who negotiates with vaccine makers on behalf of the bloc told Reuters that EU governments were considering launching talks with Sputnik V developers and it would take requests from four EU states to start the process.

Hungary and Slovakia have already bought the Russian shot, the Czech Republic is interested, and the EU official said Italy was considering using the country’s biggest vaccine-producing bioreactor at a ReiThera plant near Rome to make Sputnik V.

Brussels has been criticised for the bloc’s slow vaccine roll-out at a time when former member Britain is easing restrictions as its inoculation programme gathers pace. Italy is intensifying lockdowns, hospitals in the Paris region are close to being overloaded and Germany has warned of a third wave.

The EU has signed deals with six Western vaccine makers and launched talks with two more. It has approved four vaccines so far but production glitches have slowed its inoculation campaign and some member states are seeking their own solutions.

If Sputnik V were to join the EU’s vaccine arsenal, it would be a diplomatic triumph for Russia, whose trade with the bloc has been hamstrung for years by sanctions over its annexation of Crimea and its intervention in eastern Ukraine.

It would also risk dividing the bloc between those states dead set against giving Moscow any kind of win and those in favour of showing that Brussels can cooperate with the Kremlin.

‘LESS DESIRABLE’

A second EU official said the ReiThera plant was mentioned by Italian officials at a meeting as a possible site for producing COVID-19 vaccines made by companies other than the Italian biotech firm.

ReiThera, which is 30% owned by the state and is developing its own COVID-19 shot, declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for Italy’s industry ministry declined to comment on talks about the possible use of ReiThera’s plant to make Sputnik V. She said: “We will produce all authorised vaccines wherever possible.”

A spokesman for the European Commission, which coordinates talks with vaccine makers, said the EU was not required to launch talks with Sputnik V developers, even if the bloc’s drug regulator approves the vaccine.

It was not clear whether states that have ordered Sputnik V in bilateral deals would be interested in joint EU procurement. Spokespeople for the governments in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia did not respond to requests for comment.

Negotiations with vaccine makers have typically lasted months before supply deals were agreed and the EU official said no decision had yet been made about whether to approach Sputnik V developers following internal talks on the matter.

Still, the discussions among EU governments show a remarkable change of tack over the Russian vaccine.

For months, the EU expressed doubts about Sputnik V citing a lack of data and dubbing the vaccine a foreign policy propaganda tool of the Kremlin.

On Feb. 17, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen questioned Russia’s reasons for exporting millions of doses despite a slow roll-out at home, where fewer people have been vaccinated proportionally than in the EU, based on public data.

Even last week, Charles Michel, who chairs summits of EU leaders, again cast doubt on Russia’s motives for promoting Sputnik V.

“We should not let ourselves be misled by China and Russia, both regimes with less desirable values than ours, as they organise highly limited but widely publicised operations to supply vaccines to others,” he said. “Europe will not use vaccines for propaganda purposes.”

There were no official reactions from Moscow and Beijing to Michel’s comments, though Russia has previously accused the EU of politicising the issue of COVID-19 vaccines.