Vaccine Geopolitics and the Apple of Discord

Vaccine Geopolitics and the Apple of Discord

With the development of the Sputnik V vaccine in August, 2020, Russia cynically started a vaccination campaign at home, at the same time fueling anti-vaccine sentiment in Europe and the United States by means of propaganda and disinformation in order to generate instability in these regions. At the same time, Moscow has been trying to badmouth Western vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, etc.), using its own vaccine as a geopolitical weapon. Moscow is trying to project the image of a powerful country exporting large quantities of vaccines to the European Union in particular. Statistics, conversely, clearly indicate a shortage of vaccines at home and signs that Russia is struggling with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Although the country has produced its own vaccine, only 6 million vaccine shots have been administered so far, and only 1.7 million people have been fully vaccinated, accounting for an insignificant 1.18% of the total population, according to data released by “Our World in Data”, a research platform developed by the University of Oxford. For instance, the United States – the country hit the hardest by the pandemic – is top of the global vaccination list, with 88 million vaccine doses administered up until March 7. China follows with 52 million doses received by the population, the United Kingdom with 21.9 million, India with 18 million and Brazil with 9.74 million. Romania has a good vaccination rate was well – 1.64 million doses, accounting for 3.19% of the population. 620,000 Romanians have already taken their second shot.

Russia’s haste in sending the Sputnik V vaccine to wealthy EU member states, as well as to those countries where the authorities are overwhelmed by the high domestic demand and where Russia plans to maintain its influence, suggests the vaccine is being used for geopolitical purposes rather than medical reasons.

The Russians’ “gifts” divide the EU

Hungary was the first EU member state to give in to temptation, and actually left the city gates open to receive Moscow’s “geopolitical Trojan horse”. The Orban regime in Budapest, perhaps Putin’s closest partner in Europe, started administering the Sputnik V vaccine to the population in mid-February, before the vaccine could be certified by the country’s expert medical structures.

Hungary ordered two million shots of Sputnik V from Russia and five million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine produced in China. Orban’s tactics is to put the EU in a bad spot, while he comes across as a leader who made the best of the coronacrisis, a position that Moscow will cynically exploit.

A survey with a sample population of 1,000 people carried out in Budapest by the Median company and the Center for Research 21, reveals that only 27% of people who wish to be vaccinated would take the Chinese shot, and 43% the Russian vaccine, as against 84% who agreed to receiving a vaccine developed in Western countries.

Slovakia followed in Hungary’s steps, and received 200,000 shots of Sputnik V. Slovakia has the highest global mortality rate among COVID-19 patients, and Russia was banking on Slovakia’s desperation.

Moreover, the authorities in Bratislava chose to keep under wraps the contract for purchasing the two million doses of Sputnik V. The truth came out when the first batch arrived on March 3. Still, no shot has been administered so far, and it seems Slovakia is waiting for the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) greenlight.

The Czech Republic followed suit. President Milos Zeman, an overt admirer and partner of Vladimir Putin, sent the Russian president a letter, asking him to swiftly send vaccines to the Czech Republic, a country that had already reported over 20,000 COVID-19-related deaths. Both president Zeman and Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the Czech Republic might be using the Russian vaccine even without certification from the EMA.

Alternatively, Austria too has expressed an interest in the Russian vaccine. Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz discussed the matter over the phone with Vladimir Putin and even talked terms on a possible cooperation for producing Sputnik V. He said “he is permanent contact with the Russian ambassador and Russian companies manufacturing the vaccine”, and that Vienna is considering the possibility of importing the vaccine once the EMA gives its go-ahead.

Paradoxically, according to a recent survey, Austrians are more trusting of an uncertified vaccine such as Sputnik V than of the British-Swedish vaccine produced by AstraZeneca, although both vaccines were developed using the same methods.

Sputnik V gains popularity among non-EU states, the Balkans and elsewhere

The Russian vaccine has already been approved in 32 countries across the world, and it’s becoming increasingly popular in Europe, particularly in states in the Western Balkans, where Russia’s influence remains strong. One such country is undoubtedly Serbia, where president Aleksandar Vučić struck deals with both China and Russia on deliveries of vaccines to Serbia in the summer and autumn of last year.

Still, the first vaccine rollout to Serbia was a 5,000-batch of Pfizer shots. Moscow responded swiftly by sending 2,400 dozes of Sputnik V a week later.

In mid-January, 2021, China sent an air transport of its Sinopharm vaccine to Serbia, and at the end of the same week, Russia sent an additional 40,000 dozes of Sputnik. About a week earlier, Moscow had also sent 100,000 shots to Belgrade. Furthermore, Moscow also dispatched a team of experts to Serbia to work with Serbian counterparts on developing the Sputnik V vaccine at the Torlak Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera in Belgrade.

In  North Macedonia, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced on February 21 that he had ordered the purchase of 100,000 shots of Sputnik V from Russia, despite saying earlier his country would only be buying Western-produced vaccines.

Russia signed another contract for selling 10 million doses to Venezuela, and the first batch of 100,000 shots was delivered in mid-February. In a post on Twitter, president Nicolas Maduro said health workers will be the first to receive the vaccine, “considering their exposure to the COVID-19 virus”.

A huge business deal with Russia simmers in Chișinău

The Republic of Moldova is one of the countries in Europe with the highest rates of infection per million inhabitants. The official death toll already exceeds 4,000, while the number of infected is closing in on 200,000, although there’s suspicion the numbers could be much higher due to the authorities’ poor management of the health crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic overlapped with the campaign for the presidential election in the Republic of Moldova. Former president Igor Dodon and the Chicu Cabinet tried to dress up the ugly truth, fearing their election score might plummet. In March, 2020, when the outbreak started, former president Igor Dodon conveyed confusing public messages, claiming “the virus is a just a flu that comes and goes”.

Later on, when the health crisis escalated out of control, Dodon passed on responsibility for the negative developments to Prime Minister Ion Chicu, his former presidential adviser, which many viewed as “a puppet Prime Minister” whose strings were pulled by Igor Dodon himself. This series of successive failures, doubled by cynical decision-making, have gradually deepened the crisis in the Republic of Moldova.

After Igor Dodon lost the election and the Chicu Cabinet resigned on December 23, the “after me, the flood” logic prevailed. The government left the country’s coffins empty, which made it impossible to purchase any anti-COVID vaccines for 2021. While all the other countries in the world were signing up for various vaccines as early as possible in 2020, the Republic of Moldova, led by Dodon and Chicu, didn’t move a muscle, playing the cynical game of leaving “a hard legacy” for the next president and government.

On February 27, Romania was the first country to send Chișinău 21.600 doses for the urgent vaccination of health workers in the frontline. The delivery is the first of a total of 200,000 shots president Klaus Iohannis promised Moldova in December, 2020.

A batch of 14,400 AstraZeneca vaccines subsequently arrived, delivered under the COVAX international assistance mechanism, making the Republic of Moldova the first country in Europe to benefit from COVAX-sponsored vaccine deliveries. Starting March 15, the first Pfizer vaccines are also expected to reach Chișinău.

It is only now, after the combined success of Romania and the European Union, that Igor Dodon has announced that Sputnik V has been greenlit for use in the Republic of Moldova and that 200,000 shots are due to arrive shortly. But there’s a twist: the vaccine won’t be rolled out using official channels, but will be purchased via the private sector, which means the vaccine will be available to anyone willing to pay top dollar. An obscure company, whose name hasn’t been disclosed yet, awaits word to start importing the vaccine.

Furthermore, although no funds have been allocated for the purchase of vaccines in 2021, Parliament Speaker, Socialist Zinayda Greaceanyi last week summoned interim Prime Minister, Aureliu Ciocoi, to tell him to start scraping up funds for vaccine procurement.

“So, Sputnik V will be imported to the Republic of Moldova via the trade sector. It will be brought in by the private company who’s filed a certification request for Sputnik V with the Medicines Agency”, Ciocoi admitted. The Prime Minister went on to say that, in the event Sputnik V is purchased by the state, the vaccine will then be administered to the population free of charge.

Nevertheless, political pundits in Chișinău expect foul play at the Medicines Agency, where the Party of Socialists, Vladimir Odnostalco in particular, who runs various pharmaceutical businesses in the Republic of Moldova, controls the institution through proxies.

The purchase of Sputnik V vaccines by the Republic of Moldova is a burdensome deal struck by pro-Russian politicians rather than a clinch with geopolitical ramifications.

 

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Article highlights:
  • Eversince the pandemic started in early 2020, Russia saw a window of opportunity to gain tactical advantages. While the West was overwhelmed by the medical crisis and was attempting to stop the spread of the Virus, Moscow was using official and informal channels to undermine its credibility. 
  • Hungary was the first EU member state to give in to temptation, and actually left the city gates open to receive Moscow’s “geopolitical Trojan horse”. The Orban regime in Budapest, perhaps Putin’s closest partner in Europe, started administering the Sputnik V vaccine to the population in mid-February, before the vaccine could be certified by the country’s expert medical structures.
  • The Russian vaccine has already been approved in 32 countries across the world, and it’s becoming increasingly popular in Europe, particularly in states in the Western Balkans, where Russia’s influence remains strong. One such country is undoubtedly Serbia, where president Aleksandar Vučić struck deals with both China and Russia on deliveries of vaccines to Serbia in the summer and autumn of last year.
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