Russian vaccine diplomacy is dented in Slovakia as health regulator spots discrepancies
The developers of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine have accused Slovakia’s medicines control agency of disinformation and ‘sabotage’ after the latter noted irregularities in the batch of Russian vaccines delivered to the country a month ago. In February this year, Slovakia joined Hungary to become the second EU member state to purchase Sputnik V without authorisation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), causing a political scandal that forced the resignation of Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic.
Last week, however, the State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL) disclosed to Slovak media that the delivered product did not match the one glowingly reviewed in the medical journal The Lancet, or the one currently under EMA review, after the regulator performed tests on the batch. Furthermore, about 80% of the relevant requested documentation had not been provided to SUKL by the vaccine’s manufacturer, according to the statement.
Rather than clear up the situation, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) backing Sputnik tweeted that SUKL had engaged in an act of “sabotage” and voided the vaccine sale contract because the tests were not performed in an Official Medicines Control Laboratory (OMCL). On April 6, the RDIF demanded that Slovakia return the 200,000 Sputnik V doses already delivered and paid for “so that they can be used in other countries”.
SUKL director Zuzana Baťová defended the quality of the tests performed, and stated that the regulator was never informed that testing the vaccine batch would breach the terms of the classified contract. On Friday Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that, at the request of the Slovak government, the batch would be reassessed in an accredited Hungarian laboratory.
Although the reassessment results remain to be seen, further questions about Sputnik V reliability could prove disastrous to Hungary’s own attempts to lift restrictions amid a spike in deaths from COVID-19. Further discrepancies may also give pause to the German officials at both federal and state levels seeking to begin unilateral negotiations to purchase Sputnik V, as the Slovak case illustrates the risks of both unregulated medicines and of asking questions about Russian influence.
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