Foreign nations are bankrolling a pseudoscience propaganda campaign to discredit Russia’s pioneering Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, according to both the Kremlin and the country’s military.
On Friday, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused “some countries and their giant pharmaceutical companies” of working hard to prevent Sputnik V entering the foreign market, pointing to the politicization of the international competition to create a vaccine.
“These aspirations are not just noticed by the Kremlin, but they are visible with the naked eye,” Peskov said. “The competition is very tough, but it is good when this competition is, in fact, fair.”
Also on rt.com UK’s AstraZeneca to team up with creators of Russia’s Sputnik V on Covid-19 vaccine trials, cites potential 'wider protection'Peskov was speaking after Igor Konashenkov, the spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, noted that foreign money is being pumped into an information campaign against Sputnik V. According to Konashenkov, members of the Russian Armed Forces have already been inoculated and have proven the vaccine to be safe.
“We know, in detail, what funds and resources are being given by foreign countries to discredit the domestic vaccine, in the world and in Russia,” said Major-General Konashenkov. “Successful practical experience, as well as immunity formed in leadership and soldiers of various units, is a guarantee of its efficiency and safety.”
The Ministry of Defense official claimed that foreign money is being used to fund “a series of pseudo-analytical investigations” about the vaccine’s alleged danger, which are then being posted on social networks and other Russian-language internet resources.
“We are convinced that this information sabotage will in no way weaken the high efficiency of Russian vaccines. And it certainly will not increase the healing power of foreign analogs,” he said.
The spokesman noted that more than 10,000 Russian military personnel had received the jab, with plans to inoculate around 100,000 by the end of the year.
Konashenkov’s accusation came on the same day that Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), accused foreign countries of using attacks against Sputnik V to distract from problems with their own vaccines, including a strong allergic reaction to the Pfizer vaccine in the UK.
On August 11, President Putin announced that the country had registered the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V. After trials, it was revealed to be 95 percent effective in producing antibodies after 40 days. Last week, Putin ordered the start of mass vaccination, with it eventually beginning in Moscow on December 5.
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