Slovakia recommended not to apply Sputnik V in the country because it is wary of its effectiveness and Russia accused it of “sabotage”

The drug regulator in Slovakia said on Thursday that could not determine security from a batch of Russian vaccine Sputnik V.against the coronavirus delivered to Bratislava in March and expressed doubts about its composition.

“The batches of the vaccine (Sputnik V. used in preclinical tests and in clinical studies published in the journal The Lancet they do not have the same characteristics and properties as those imported into Slovakia“Said the National Institute for Drug Control (SUKL) in a statement to AFP.

“Only its name refers to the Sputnik V vaccines.used in about 40 countries around the world“Among them, Argentina,” said the Slovak regulator, which, with 5.4 million inhabitants, faces one of the highest covid-19 death rates in the world.

“Based on laboratory tests only, it is not possible to conclude on the effectiveness and human safety ”of the batch shipped to Slovakia, the institute said, adding that the vaccine manufacturer had not responded to repeated requests to provide data on the composition of the first 200,000 imported doses.

Former Prime Minister Igor Matovic he was forced to resign last week amid a scandal over the rushed purchase of two million doses of Sputnik V. which has not yet received the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

In February, Lancet magazine reported that the Sputnik V vaccine was 91.6% effective, dispelling doubts about its reliability. The vaccine is used in Russia and Hungary, among other countries.

A total of 10,322 people have died from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, 79 in the past 24 hours.

Russian counterattack

In response, Russia asked Slovakia to return the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines it received “due to multiple breaches of contract.”

The official Sputnik V vaccine Twitter account published that the Slovak drug regulator “in breach of the contract in force and in an act of sabotage ” carried out tests on Sputnik V. “in a laboratory which is not part of the network of official EU medicines control laboratories”.

He added that the Slovak State Institute for Drug Control “has launched a disinformation campaign against Sputnik V and provides for additional provocations. ”

The Slovak institute pointed out that the network of EU-certified laboratories only tests vaccines registered in the block, which is not the case with Sputnik V. He added that I don’t know the details of the contract between the two nations because it is confidential.

The announcement came hours after the Slovak regulator said it had not received enough information about the Russian vaccine from the manufacturer to be able to assess its benefits and risks. The Slovak institute noted that it had not provided about 80% of the requested data.

For its part, Russia said it was “fake news”.“.

“All lots of Sputnik V they are of the same quality and undergo rigorous quality control at the Gamaleya Institute, ” Russian authorities said. “The quality of Sputnik V has been confirmed by regulators in 59 countries.”

However, Slovaks said these vaccines appeared to “ have only one name in common. ”

Source: AFP and AP

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