Russia sells millions of doses of its own Sputnik V vaccine abroad, making it a major supplier of an injection that could give Moscow a valuable slice of the global Covid-19 vaccine market and potentially give Russia geopolitical leverage in the developing world.
Argentina is the first major country outside of Russia to begin large-scale vaccination with Sputnik. However, the rollout there has raised questions regarding the lack of transparency about the effectiveness of the state-sponsored Sputnik V, which has sparked some suspicion among Argentines about its safety.
Moscow approved the Sputnik V for domestic use in August before the trials were completed. Research data released since then has found Sputnik to be 91.4% effective in protecting people from Covid-19, and a peer-reviewed study is expected to be published in the coming weeks. About a million Russians received the shot.
Other countries are rushing to buy a vaccine that is cheaper than Western alternatives. Sputnik V, named after the Soviet satellite that was launched into orbit during the Cold War, is ranked third in the world in terms of doses ordered by mid- and low-level, according to Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center. income countries, ahead of the US drug makers Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. and China’s vaccines. Eight countries outside of Russia have authorized the emergency shot.
Yet Sputnik V has not been approved by Western health authorities or received approval from the WHO, which many developing countries rely on for vaccine screening. Russia has entered into talks with the European Medicines Agency to approve the shot in the European Union and has applied for WHO authorization.