Sputnik V has reached one of the world’s highest-fatalities

ROMA.- Amid a great shortage of coronavirus vaccines in Italy and expectations that it could be an alternative, The first 15,000 doses of Sputnik V arrived today in the Republic of San Marino, a microstate nestled in the center of the peninsula, which has become the 31st country to give the green light to the Russian vaccine.

With an area of ​​61.2 square kilometers and 33,785 inhabitants, San Marino is the third smallest country in Europe, after the Principality of Monaco and the Vatican, and is second in the world ranking of coronavirus deaths per capita (73 deaths).

Unlike Italy, which started the vaccination campaign at the end of December and has so far vaccinated 3,647,651 people (of which 1,338,877 have received two doses), San Marino has so far not vaccinated anyone because they never had what. Precisely for that and after the failure of an agreement with Italy, he decided to resort to the Russian vaccine, which it was able to buy because, although it is on its territory, it is not a member state of the European Union (EU), a bloc with which it has a customs-type union for the free movement of goods and shares the euro. EU has yet to approve Sputnik V.

San Marino had problems with the deal it had made with Italy, which promised it enough vaccines to cover at least 70% of the population, which it could not fulfill due to lack of distribution of doses of major pharmaceutical products. This resulted in long delays in Italy’s mass vaccination campaign.

Sputnik V, arrived this morning at the State Hospital of San Marino in a van escorted by the gendarmerie, It will be applied in the coming days free of charge to 7,500 people, starting with the elderly and health workers, who will then receive a second dose.

Luca Beccari and Roberto Ciavatta, respectively Chancellor and Minister of Health of the small state, explained during a press conference that although San Marino is on European territory, as it is not an EU member state, it has not had the opportunity to participate in the supply mechanism of the bloc. For this reason and beyond having signed a protocol with Italy, he had to go and look for other alternatives. “The choice of Sputnik has nothing to do with geopolitics, but with a simple request. In San Marino, no one has yet been vaccinated. And this is not a challenge for Europe and less for Italy, because the arrival of 50,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is expected ”, they assured.

After Hungary, San Marino became the second country in the Old Continent to allow the Sputnik V vaccine. The truth is that this microstate, famous for its medieval historic center, does not have a drug regulatory body, like the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU or Aifa from Italy, but only an international pharmacy that collaborates with various agencies.

“San Marino has always relied on approvals from foreign agencies, but for decades it has also used drugs that do not necessarily have EMA or Aifa approval.”Ciavatta explained. “Sputnik is not an EMA-authorized vaccine, but it also did not seek EMA authorization, has passed the testing stages and has extremely high guarantee and safety standards.” , did he declare.

The prestigious scientific journal The Lancet released a survey earlier this month indicating that the Russian vaccine is 91.6% effective. The Spallanzani hospital in Rome, specializing in infectious diseases and one of the most important centers in Italy, also expressed positive comments, assuring that the protection offered by Sputnik is “equal to that of Pfizer and Moderna”. So much so that, given the shortage of vaccines across Europe, in Italy there were even those who raised the possibility of producing Sputnik V in the country, once you have obtained the corresponding permissions.

The government of San Marino, to take over Sputnik V, negotiated with the Russian Investment Fund (RDIF), the only one authorized by Moscow for this purpose. Apparently the Russian Ambassador to Rome Sergej Razov played an important role in the negotiations, for a long time in very good relations with the oldest republic in the world.

Amid a still very complicated situation in Italy, which continues with numerous daily cases, restrictions and where the coronavirus has so far caused more than 96,000 deaths, the arrival of Sputnik in San Marino has triggered alarms concerning a possible exodus there to obtain the vaccine, from the neighboring region of Emilia-Romagna. But the government of San Marino assured that it was a “Unrealistic suggestion because with Sputnik we will only vaccinate 15% of the population of San Marino and Italians should be vaccinated with their health system, not with ours”.

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