LONDON, April 2. /TASS/. The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine could help end the rift between Russia and the West, according to the British magazine The Spectator.
"The European Medicines Agency started a review of Sputnik V in March, which could lead to the approval of the Russian vaccine for use in the EU," the magazine points out, adding that according to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently discussed "not just shipments from Russia, once the vaccine has been registered, but joint production in EU countries."
"With the third wave of the pandemic in full swing and favorable assessments of Sputnik V’s efficacy multiplying, maybe there will be a reluctant acceptance that needs must," the Spectator writes. "But could a pan-EU agreement to buy the Sputnik vaccine lead to a broader diplomatic rapprochement with Russia of the sort that France, and to a lesser extent Germany, have been eyeing for a while - against fierce opposition from Poland and the Baltic States?" the magazine adds.
The Spectator pointed to media skepticism of the Russian vaccine "even though Russia has a sound tradition of vaccine research, including at the Gamaleya Center, where Sputnik V was developed." "With study after study now appearing to confirm the safety and efficacy of Sputnik V - and with another two Russian vaccines in the pipeline - any further moves to spurn Sputnik V look even more nakedly political than they once did," the magazine notes.
"As the UK congratulates itself on its vaccination success, can it really be that President Macron and Chancellor Merkel are inclined to place more trust in a Russian vaccine than one developed amid Oxford’s dreaming spires? If so, it would seem there is quite a lot more diplomatic, if not scientific, work to be done," the article concludes.
As many as 59 countries with a total population of over 1.5 bln people have approved the Sputnik V vaccine and more than 30 countries have launched Sputnik V vaccinations.