New U.S. travel regulations close the door to people vaccinated with Sputnik V

United States announced last week that it will soon be opening its doors to foreign travelers vaccinated against coronavirus, easing restrictions on large swathes of visitors from the world for the first time since the start of the pandemic. But the new rules – which will take effect in November – seem also exclude many people who consider themselves fully immune, including millions who have received two doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians could be directly affected. Despite cold diplomatic relations and limited demand for international travel, around 300,000 Russians visited the United States in 2019, the latest year for which figures are available, according to the American Travel Association.

More generally, the United States is another blow to the makers of Sputnik V, What Moscow Proudly proclaimed it as the first registered coronavirus vaccine to be used. Although the vaccine was intended to be a powerful tool for pandemic diplomacy, its limited acceptance abroad and slow delivery left it behind not only Western vaccines, but also those from Chinese manufacturers.

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“It is a big problem for Russian travelers and for people from other countries who received Sputnik V“, noted Judyth Twigg, a teacher of the Commonwealth University of Virginia who follows public health in Russia, on the new US rules in an e-mail.

The Russian direct investment fund, the sovereign wealth fund which supported Sputnik V, said in a statement that the vaccine “Not only has it been approved in 70 countries where more than 4,000 million people live, more than half of the world’s population, but its efficacy and safety have been confirmed both in clinical trials and throughout its real-world use in various countries”.

“We oppose attempts to politicize the global fight against COVID-19 and to discriminate against effective vaccines for short-term political or economic purposes.The statement continues.

The new American plan requires that the majority of non-citizens who wish to enter United States are vaccinated with vaccines approved for emergency use by the United States Food and Drug Administration or by the World Health Organization. This includes vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Modern, as well as vaccines developed by Chinese companies such as Sinopharm and Sinovac.

Corn Sputnik V, an adenovirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute in Epidemiology and Microbiology, situated at Moscow, has not yet been approved by the WHO. The World Health Agency said this week it had suspended its vaccine review process, citing concerns about manufacturing practices at production plants within Russia and because of the possibility that the vaccine can be produced consistently with the required level.

At a conference held at Vladivostok this month, the director of RDIF, Kirill Dmitriev, I affirm that “mutual recognition of vaccines is this year’s theme “and said” several “Big Pharma” companies are intentionally, through competitive rivalry, trying to restrict Sputnik and absorb markets“, According to the Russian press agency Tass.

Unlike other countries, United States had no general restrictions on travel from Russia ahead of this announcement, which means all travelers in the country who tested negative for the coronavirus could enter state United according to the directives of the Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention. That will change in November, when the doors open to millions of travelers from Europe and beyond.

The new US rules will not only affect the Russians. Based on data from Duke University Global Health Innovation Center, they bought some 448 million doses of Sputnik V around the world, many of them destined for low-income countries. Some governments have complained about slow deliveries since Russia. Limited travel options are likely to increase Russian drug criticism.

“Russia wasted an opportunity to use this vaccine as a diplomatic tool“, noted Twig, citing production problems around the Sputnik.

The Russian Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the new US policy.

Sputnik V it is not the only vaccine that risks being left behind. Neither FDA nor WHO have cleared Covaxin from India, of which 560 million doses have been purchased to date, the majority in India. People vaccinated with Covaxine they will not be able to visit United States in November. There have also been disputes with individual governments that do not accept certain vaccines, such as the refusal of Britain fully recognize the vaccines given in many parts of the world.

But for Sputnik V, a vaccine that has taken a blatant and sometimes confrontational approach with its rivals, failing to make it onto the emergency use list of the WHO or a similar list by the European Medicines Agency, an EU body, has dealt a major blow to its reputation.

Despite the recent suspension of the approval process for the WHO, the RDIF I affirm that “The Russian Ministry of Health is in constant contact with WHO experts on the approval process and we remain convinced that the approval of Sputnik V by the global health regulator is imminent due to the excellent track record. vaccine.”.

Some immunization experts have amplified their fears that the measurement of United States and others like him can create two classes of vaccinated people in the world: one who can travel freely and one who cannot. At Russia and other countries, travel agencies have already started offering their high net worth clients trips abroad, including to places like Serbia, so that they can be vaccinated with more accepted vaccines.

Alexandre gabouev, principal investigator of Moscow Carnegie Center, said there was growing frustration between “those with money and power“Because their vaccines were no longer accepted. Some have spread “conspiracy theories“, noted Gabuev, among them the one who “everyone envies Russia to be the nation that developed the first vaccine“And that is why the Western powers conspired against the Sputnik V.

Approval by the WHO Chinese vaccines, such as Sinopharm and Sinovac, undermine this message. Although the Sputnik V appeared to offer greater protection than these vaccines supported by China, the paper of Russia As an exporter of vaccines, it had been severely constrained by production problems and China had become a more reliable partner, he said Gabuev.

“World Health Organization Approval Boosts Credibility of Chinese Vaccines Against Russian Vaccines“He added.

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