West Waging Targeted Campaign against Use of Russian Medical Preparations: Envoy

Antonov was asked by journalists to comment on the US approach regarding the use of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine against the ongoing global COVID-19 spread.

"The West refuses to acknowledge that findings of our scientists may help to provide for the health and wellbeing of the humankind," Antonov was quoted as saying on the FaceBook account of the Russian Embassy to the United States.

"Moreover, a targeted campaign is being waged against the use of our (Russian) medical preparations," the Russian ambassador added, TASS reported.

The Russian diplomat said that the "US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated in its annual report for 2020 that its administration used the Health Ministry of Brazil to convince the whole country to abstain from getting Sputnik V jabs."

Antonov also said that despite Russia’s readiness to supply the vaccine to other countries "on the transparent and non-discriminatory basis" to fight the pandemic, Russia "keeps countering the infamous double standards."

"We must stress in this regard that there is no place for politics when we speak about the health and lives of people," he said. "We call on our partners to realize it as soon as possible."

"We can win the fight against the infection only by joining our efforts," Antonov added.

Today, four coronavirus vaccines have been registered in Russia, namely Sputnik V and Sputnik Light developed by the Russian Health Ministry’s Gamaleya Center, EpiVacCorona developed by the sanitary watchdog’s Vector Center, and CoviVac developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Chumakov Center. Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, and CoviVac are two-dose shots, while Sputnik Light is a one-dose version of Sputnik V.

To date, Sputnik V has been registered in over 65 countries covering a total population of over 3.5 billion people. Data from regulators in a number of nations, including Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, Mexico and other countries, obtained during the inoculation of the population, show that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against the novel coronavirus.

On March 4, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reported that it began the rolling review of the jab. However, the certification of the Russian vaccine has not yet been approved by the EMA.