The Russian Sputnik vaccine is luring Eastern Europe, which is a cause for concern for the EU

As the European Union struggles to ramp up the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in the 27-member bloc, Russia’s Covid shot is proving to be attractive to his friends in Eastern Europe, creating a new potential rift in the region.

The Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia have all expressed interest in purchasing and using Russia’s “Sputnik V” vaccine, a move that could undermine an EU-wide approach to approving and administering coronavirus vaccines.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Sunday that his country could use the Sputnik V vaccine even without approval from the EU drug agency, the European Medicines Agency.

It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had a phone call last Friday in which they talked about “ possible delivery of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to Austria, as well as its possible joint production, ” the Kremlin said, pointing out. that Austria had initiated the call. Austria has so far indicated that it would not bypass the EMA regarding the approval of the vaccine.

Hungary, a country within the EU that has fraught relations with Brussels and whose leader, Viktor Orban, is seen as a close ally of Putin, has not shown such hesitation. It became the first European country to give approval in January – bypassing the EMA – and buy the Sputnik V vaccine.

According to the Moscow Times, the country is reportedly expecting 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine in the next three months. Hungary also approved the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine last month, again against the tide when it comes to approving the EU vaccines.

On Monday, Slovakia became the second European country to announce it had purchased the Sputnik V vaccine, securing 2 million doses of the shot. However, the Slovak health minister said it will not be administered immediately as it still needs a green light from the country’s national drug regulator.

The pivot towards Russia’s vaccine comes amid widespread frustration at the slow speed of vaccination roll-out in the EU. It’s been hampered by the bloc’s decision to jointly purchase vaccines, and orders came later than other countries, including the UK and US.

Production problems and bureaucracy – and in some countries hesitation about vaccines – have also been a stumbling block to the rollout.

Nonetheless, the move by some Eastern European countries to unilaterally endorse the Russian vaccine will undoubtedly increase brain fog in Brussels, as it undermines the EU’s desire for a unified approach and a sense of equality over vaccine distribution.

There were also specific concerns about Sputnik V, although subsequent data has confirmed the vaccine’s effectiveness and credibility.

The vaccine was approved by the Russian health regulator in August last year before clinical trials were completed, sparking skepticism by experts that it may not meet strict safety and efficacy standards. Some experts argued that the Kremlin was eager to claim victory in the race to develop a Covid vaccine.

An interim analysis of phase 3 clinical trials of the shot involving 20,000 participants and published in early February in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet found the vaccine to be 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 infection.

In an accompanying article in The Lancet, Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading, England, noted that “the development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticized for its inappropriate haste. But the outcome reported here is clear and scientific. vaccination principle has been demonstrated, meaning that another vaccine can now participate in the fight to reduce the incidence of Covid-19. “

However, the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, which developed the vaccine, has not yet applied to the EMA for a marketing authorization for the vaccine, the EU medicines agency said in early February.

RDIF, the Russian sovereign wealth fund that has backed the development of Sputnik V, told CNBC on Monday that it had filed with the EU drug agency for an ongoing revision of the vaccine in mid-February. However, the EMA has not confirmed this and CNBC has reached out to the EMA for comment.

The European Commission has already warned Hungary, albeit indirectly, against the use of the Russian vaccine before the EMA has approved it. In November, a Commission spokesperson told Reuters that “the question arises whether a Member State would want to give its citizens a vaccine that has not been evaluated by the EMA,” adding that public confidence in vaccination could be damaged.

“This is where the authorization process and the confidence of the vaccine come together. If our citizens start questioning the safety of a vaccine, it would be much more difficult to vaccinate a sufficient portion of the vaccine if it did not have rigorous scientific assessment. undergo to prove its safety and efficacy to the population, ”the spokesperson said, reported Reuters.

Hungary’s decision to go it alone when it comes to the Sputnik V vaccine, however, is not surprising to EU viewers. The country’s right-wing leader Viktor Orban – of the ‘strongman’ kind similar to Russia’s Putin – has had several disputes with the EU’s executive in recent years, most notably over signs of the government’s growing authoritarianism. The erosion of judicial independence and freedom of the press in Hungary is of particular concern to the EU. However, the Hungarian government rejects such criticism.

Gustav Gressel, senior policy officer at the European Council for Foreign Relations, told CNBC on Monday that Hungary’s actions were “ part of Orban’s campaign to build a ‘decadent, declining EU’ and Hungary’s future in the East, with Russia and China, to propagate ‘. he said he had been at it for a while.

Meanwhile, Daragh McDowell, head of Europe and chief Russia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, described the geopolitics around Sputnik V and the EU as “more than anything political theater”.

For Hungary and Austria, this involves an element of foreign policy signaling, as both Kurz and Orban have generally had a closer relationship with Putin than their European counterparts. In the case of the Czech Republic, the impetus seems to be more have been to show that the government is ‘doing something’ in the face of a rapid rise in the number of cases in February, ”he said.

There are also doubts as to whether Russia has the ability to produce and ship its Sputnik V vaccine more widely to Europe.

“While the Sputnik vaccine appears to be an effective vaccine in principle, Russia is struggling to get mass production right … still not enough Sputnik vaccine is being produced,” said Gressel. McDowell noted that “the question is whether Sputnik V can make a noticeable difference given regulatory and existing logistical issues, and whether the vaccine can be produced in sufficient numbers by Russian manufacturers or under license.”