GORKI, January 28. /TASS/. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has spoken in favor of creating a pool of states manufacturing anti-coronavirus vaccines.

"I believe that mutual recognition of vaccines is absolutely necessary. There is more <…> I think that any country producing an anti-coronavirus vaccine - even if it is not highly effective - has the right to have it registered by the World Health Organization," Medvedev said in an interview with Russian media outlets, including TASS.

In his opinion, "a pool of countries with mutual recognition of vaccines needs to be established."

"In this case, people will have an opportunity to travel freely, particularly as new variants [of the virus] keep emerging," he said.

In his opinion, the World Health Organization plays an important role in the issue of mutual recognition of vaccines, but "has been unable to cope with this task so far and has no necessary powers in this sphere."

"Naturally, a serious international agreement in this domain is required," the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council said.

About work of US biological labs

Medvedev is concerned by threats that emerge as a result of work of US biological labs.

"There is a great number of organizations that can produce pathogens of various kinds, and this has already become a security issue. Such organizations existed in the past, they exist now, and the question is who runs them, who controls them and how transparent their activities are," Medvedev said in an interview with Russian media outlets, including TASS.

"For example, our neighbors are already housing biological labs on their territory, with the participation of Americans and some other countries. But this is not a question of nationality. <…> The question is that we don’t know what exactly they are doing there. And, provided the lack of information, we cannot rule out a situation when, to put it in legal terms, a so-called excessive act [the commission of a crime more serious than was originally agreed upon by conspirators] may be committed, when something goes out of control or is deliberately brought to life by some mad scientist," he said. "This cannot be ruled out, as we all understand that viruses can be created artificially."

"Control over those activities and compliance with the convention on prevention of biological threats are extremely important for the humanity," he added.

Registration bids, filed by two foreign manufacturers of anti-coronavirus vaccines

Registration bids, filed by two foreign manufacturers of anti-coronavirus vaccines, are currently under consideration in Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council said.

"As far as the presence of foreign vaccines on our market is concerned: no one is banning them. Moreover, in accordance with our regulations, a vaccine cannot emerge out of thin air, because we need to make sure that it is not harmful, at the very least," he said. "Therefore, a manufacturer needs to file a request [for reigistration]."

"And such requests were indeed filed. As far as I’m aware, AstraZeneca and a Chinese company have applied," the official continued. "Those requests are now under consideration, and those vaccines are now in Phase Three of clinical trials."

Russia currently has six registered vaccines against the coronavirus: Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, CoviVac, Sputnik Light, Sputnik M and EpiVacCorona-N. All of them are of Russian manufacture.

Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told the media in early January it was up to the Health Ministry to decide whether to launch the production of foreign vaccines against the novel coronavirus in Russia for domestic use. The country’s industry is ready to start making them, if need be, he added.

Reasons behind the COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in Russia

One of reasons behind the COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in Russia is the general distrust of immunization, developed during the difficult period of 1990s, Medvedev said.

"Vaccination was compulsory during the Soviet period, and no one put into question the need to vaccinate against measles or polio," he said. "Now there is no such understanding among the people. Some have a feeling that it is being imposed by the state, that it is some kind of experiment, or microchipping, or encoding, or some other nonsense."

He attributed this trend to the fact that "vaccination stopped almost completely in 1990s."

"There was no vaccination due to low funding and weak healthcare. As a result, an entire generation started to believe that vaccination is some kind of an experiment, or maybe that it is simply not necessary. And I think that this is bad," Medvedev continued.

He underscored the need of promoting vaccination and explaining the need to vaccinate to the public.

Unfair competition against Russia’s Sputnik V

Medvedev sees unfair competition against Russia’s Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine on the global market.

In an interview with Russian media outlets, including TASS, Medvedev attributed the World Health Organization (WHO)’s failure to register the Russian vaccine to several factors.

"There are organizational issues, and our agencies should work more actively," he admitted. "Such contacts are under way, and I hope the registration process would be completed by the WHO sooner or later."

"But there are political and - to put it bluntly - commercial factors as well," he continued. "Indeed, everything that happened worldwide since the start of the pandemic was not just an enormous challenge for the humanity, not just a matter of live and death, but <…> also a business opportunity for pharmaceutical companies and vaccine manufacturers. Obviously, national governments, who keep a close eye on this industry and regulate it, are also involved."

"This is a very large and profitable market. And naturally there is competition. In fact, competition is generally a good thing, but in this particular case it is a negative factor. It restricts global travel and prevents effective vaccines from entering other markets."

"As far as our Sputnik is concerned, I see this kind of unfair political and commercial competition," he said.

When asked why Russia was promoting internationally only one vaccine, namely Sputnik V, Medvedev replied: "There is just one simple reason to do so: this vaccine is highly effective, and this was proven in practice, by using it against different coronavirus strains."

Vaccine technologies

"Clearly, there is always a feeling that if the state is promoting something, or if something is available in large quantities, it is always worse than something in limited numbers, something that is not being promoted. And, besides, [it is thought to be] worse than any foreign [rival]," Medvedev continued. "But this is not so. Sputnik really is a highly effective vaccine, which, to a significant extent, is even more effective against the latest strain, namely Omicron," he said.

He cited researchers as saying that Sputnik V can be easily adjusted to various variants of the novel coronavirus.

"This kind of work is under way, including with regard to Omicron," he said, adding that inactivated virus-based vaccines such as CoviVac, are less flexible in that regard.

The official also said that Russia has no domestically produced messenger RNA vaccines (mRNA vaccines), such as Pfizer or Moderna.

"This task should also be handled, because such vaccines have their own advantages and disadvantages. We are working in this direction," Medvedev said.