Why the European Union refuses to buy Russian vaccine against Sputnik

The European Commission consider that you don’t need to buy Russian vaccine Sputnik V. European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in an interview with German newspaper on Sunday ‘Augsburger Allgemeine’ that, according to its forecasts, the European Union will receive at least 700 million doses until the end of September, “more than enough to vaccinate 70% of the Union’s population”.

Kyriakides also estimates that by the end of June there will be 300 million doses, which could be more when the vaccines from Belgian pharmaceutical company Jansen that Johnson & Johnson produces are added. These calculations make, according to community sources explained on Monday, that the European Union does not need to buy the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V and that the European Commission has already taken the decision to reject its acquisition.

The same sources say that for now it is not even a political decision – Brussels has always believed that the Russian vaccine is a vaccine but also a political weapon of Russian President Vladimir Putin – because the Russians have not even requested authorization from the European Medicines Agency.

Without this authorization – as long as one is not the Hungary of Viktor Orban and that one cares little about European standards – there will be no Sputnik V in Europe. The decision is not official and probably never will be so as not to close a door – especially since Germany do not exclude it– but the sources consulted take it for granted that it will not be purchased.

A few weeks ago, when the European fight with Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical Astra Zeneca intensified due to delays in its production and possible contractual breaches on the part of the company, several European capitals began to let hear that the European Union could buy the Russian vaccine. If politically it was a toxic decision, logistically it made sense whether Russia was able to provide tens of millions of doses or allow European pharmaceutical companies to manufacture the vaccine.

German laboratories were studying this option because one of the requirements that the European executive imposes on pharmaceutical companies is to be able to produce their doses on European territory, something that Russia is unable to do at the moment because it has no agreements with European pharmaceutical factories.

The setting has started to be defined. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said “vaccines have no nationality”, while French giants like Sanofi or the Institut Pasteur have failed to design their own vaccine.

During his tumultuous visit to Moscow, the High Representative for the Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, congratulated Moscow for having designed a vaccine which, according to the scientific journal ‘The Lancet’ it is more than 90% effective. Borrell even said that Sputnik V was “good for mankind”. Borrell did not discuss the vaccines with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and community sources explained after the trip that it was only a courtesy compliment.

Brussels excludes the purchase but several governments do not see it so clearly. Austrian executive under Conservative Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz said his government could buy Russian vaccines if these were produced in Austria. And the Czech government announced this weekend that it would be interested in receiving Russian vaccines.

PB