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West seeking to lure away Russian vaccine developers - Gamalei Center head

According to Alexander Gintsburg, the West’s negative reaction to the newly-registered Russian anti-coronavirus vaccine was quite predictable
Director of the National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg Michail Japaridze/TASS
Director of the National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg
© Michail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. Western research institutions are seeking to lure away scientists from the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry, but to no avail, the center’s chief, Alexander Gintsburg, said on Sunday.

"Our researchers have been working at the Gamalei Institute for ten years… Any American or European university can only dream of having such researchers. And they are seeking to lure them away. But they won’t be able to," he said in an interview with the Vesti Nedeli weekly news program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

According to Gintsburg, the West’s negative reaction to the newly-registered Russian anti-coronavirus vaccine was quite predictable. "I wouldn’t call it collusion. I would call it a natural negative reaction of Western companies to the emergence of a Russian production they did not expect. So, I think we should ignore these negative things that are being poured on us and that have been well-paid," he stressed.

On August 11, Russia registered the world’s first vaccine against the novel coronavirus. The vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, was developed by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry, and its clinical trials were successfully completed in June-July. The vaccine was developed on a platform that had been used for a number of other vaccines. CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said earlier that more than 20 countries had already applied for obtaining some one billion doses of the new vaccine overall.