DISINFO: Germany and the EU are putting geopolitics ahead of the well-being of their citizens
SUMMARY
Germany and the EU are politicising the selection of vaccines and putting geopolitical power calculations ahead of the health and well-being of their citizens. It is highly irresponsible how German politicians and those at the EU level react to offers of cooperation from Russia: rejecting, waiting, refusing, putting it on the back burner. This actually costs human lives.
Russia now has three effective vaccines and has repeatedly offered cooperation to Germany and the EU. The EU, German politicians and - again at the forefront of the Russia-bashing - German media insinuate that Russia wants to divide the EU.
RESPONSE
No evidence given that Germany or the EU are politicising the selection of vaccines. This is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that exploits the coronavirus pandemic claiming that there is a political campaign from Germany or the EU against specific vaccines, like Sputnik V.
Contrary to the claim, previous criticism and mistrust of the Sputnik V vaccine were not due to any alleged Russophobia but to the publication of incomplete or questionable data about it, surrounded by a disinformation campaign about this and other vaccines.
Reservations and criticism of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine at the time stemmed from the fact that Russia did not complete large trials to test the vaccine’s safety and efficacy before releasing it. Rolling out an inadequately vetted vaccine could endanger people who receive it.
On February 2, 2021, interim results from a phase 3 trial of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine were finally published in The Lancet. The trial results show a consistent strong protective effect across all participant age groups, meaning that the Sputnik V vaccine candidate appears safe and effective. This is what led to a general change in the approach towards Sputnik V.
All vaccines, authorised by the European Medicines Agency are welcome in the EU. R-Pharm Germany GmbH applied for a rolling review of Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) by the EMA only in March 2021. As of 4 March 2021, the EMA has initiated the rolling review of the vaccine. Before that, the developer of Sputnik V received scientific advice from the EMA, providing them with the latest regulatory and scientific guidance for the development of the vaccine.
See other examples of these pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that Western attacks on the Russian coronavirus vaccine are a corporate cold war against humanity or Russian progress in COVID-19 vaccine has become for the West an outrageous challenge, that Sputnik V is a target of the corporate cold war; that the West wants to discredit the Sputnik V; that the WHO and Microsoft sabotaged the Russian vaccine, that the West criticises the Sputnik V because it can’t accept Russia’s primacy and because its pharmaceutical companies will lose billions of dollars.