A Swiss biotechnology company will produce the Russian vaccine “Sputnik V” COVID-19 in facilities throughout Italy, the company announced on Monday.
Bloomberg News reported that Adienne Pharma & Biotech have announced an agreement with Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, RDIF, to begin production near Milan. The company aims to produce several million doses by the end of 2021, until the approval of the Italian regulation.
“Adienne will become our first production in Europe,” said RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev, according to Bloomberg. “The launch of production in Italy will help meet the growing demand for Sputnik V and will protect many people not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world, as the vaccine could be exported later.”
Sputnik V in Russia, which has a reported efficacy rate of 92% for the prevention of COVID-19 infections, is a two-dose vaccine with lower cold storage requirements than those produced by Pfizer and Moderna. It has been licensed for emergency use in at least 20 countries, although it has not been licensed in the United States.
Nations such as China and Russia have been accused of so-called “vaccine diplomacy” by the West: offering vaccines to developing countries in an attempt to establish closer ties between their respective governments.
The problem has upset the US, which has not moved to provide vaccines to other countries, but has instead opted to work with allies, including Australians and Japanese, to counter the growth of those countries.
Three COVID-19 vaccines are currently licensed for emergency use in the United States: Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna. Some countries across the country still report problems in getting a large enough amount to distribute to residents at a reasonable rate.
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