The French Foreign Ministry believes that EU countries should not recognize the COVID-19 vaccines developed in China and Russia.

This was announced on the air of France 2 by the Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry of the Republic, Clement Bon.

The diplomat also stressed that the list of drugs that can be recognized in France and that will open access to its territory for people vaccinated by them should be limited to those vaccines that Paris is confident in.

“That is, four - four, yes, there are not many of them, of course, because we are very specific and strict (we approach this. -

RT

) - four, which are now recognized in France and Europe.

There are countries like Spain that have tried or are currently recognizing some vaccines, such as Russian or Chinese.

We told our European partners and we repeat again: be careful and say no to these vaccines, "Bon said.

  • Clement Bon, Secretary of State at the French Foreign Ministry

  • Reuters

  • © Benoit Tessier

We will remind, earlier the French Secretary of State also criticized the Russian and Chinese vaccines against the new type of coronavirus.

Thus, Clement Bon said that the decision of some countries to use Russian or Chinese vaccines on an individual basis, without general agreement within the EU, "creates a problem of solidarity, as well as a sanitary problem." 

Commenting on the latest statement of the diplomat, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev noted that such a position "absolutely certainly contradicts the interests of citizens of the same France and other states of the European Union."

“I am deeply convinced that vaccines, like any other medical products, should not have nationality, should not have citizenship, should not have nationality - in the sense that they should be available to the entire international community in the event, of course, confirmation of their effectiveness and the presence of a need for this kind of drugs, "the senator emphasized in an interview with RT.

Qualitative approach

As a reminder, in early March 2021, the EMA began an examination of the registration dossier of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.



EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer said on July 8 that the recognition of foreign vaccines in Europe, including the Russian drug Sputnik V, is a technical issue and should not be politicized.

“I am categorically against the idea that the process of authorization, authorization of a potential vaccine to enter the EU market should be generally politicized.

I am categorically against this, ”RIA Novosti quotes the diplomat.

Ederer also said that he met with the inspectors of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), who were received in Russia.

“The process (over the certification of the vaccine. -

RT

) is underway, this is called the current review, Sputnik is now subject to it.

I am confident that it will end in a rational and unbiased manner, ”he added.

  • EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer

  • RIA News

  • © Grigory Sysoev

Commenting on these words of the EU ambassador, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow welcomes the idea of ​​Brussels to consider the possibility of mutual recognition of certificates of vaccination against COVID-19.

“This statement by the ambassador is very remarkable and very positive,” said Peskov.

He also believes that the Russian vaccine will gain recognition in the EU if political, artificial or lobbying reasons are eliminated on the way to this.

During a conversation with reporters, Peskov noted that if prejudice is removed, the work will be completed successfully and the Russian vaccine will be recognized in the EU.

It should be noted that in a number of countries the Sputnik V vaccine is already being actively used to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

By March 2021, the Russian drug was used in 45 countries, ranking second in the world in popularity after the vaccine of the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, approved in 49 countries.

Now "Sputnik V" is used in 67 countries.

The high quality of Russian development following the results of vaccination of about 7 million citizens was ascertained by the Ministry of Health of Argentina. On July 7, the department published a report, which stated that mild side effects were recorded in only 0.55% of those vaccinated with the Russian vaccine. Hospitalizations after the Sputnik V injection were required in 0.0027% of cases.

The Western scientific community also gave positive assessments of the Russian vaccine.

So, on the eve in one of the most authoritative scientific journals - the British Nature, a material was published on "Sputnik V".

As the publication recalled, the drug was developed on the basis of adenovirus.

As part of this technology, an engineered virus from a family that causes only mild diseases is used to deliver the genetic code of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into human cells.

The side effects of the vaccine are reduced to fever, pain at the injection site, headache and fatigue - this is no different from Sputnik from other coronavirus vaccines.

At the same time, after the use of the Russian vaccine, no cases of thrombosis were recorded.

  • Dmitry Peskov, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Press Secretary of the Russian President

  • RIA News

  • © Sergey Bobylev

As the authors of the article note, interim data obtained during the third stage of trials confirmed the effectiveness of the vaccine at 91.6%.

With reference to the data of the developer - NF Gamaleya NITsEM, the authors of the article noted that the efficiency of "Sputnik V" was 97.6%.

Such statistics were obtained by the institute following the results of vaccination of 3.8 million Russians.

Similar data was presented by the Ministry of Health of the UAE - the Russian development showed an efficiency in the country of 97.8%.

In total, 81,000 people were fully vaccinated with Sputnik V in the Arab state at the time of data collection.

At the same time, the vaccine protects 100% from the severe course of the new type of coronavirus, the UAE noted.

Earlier, in February 2021, an article dedicated to the Sputnik V vaccine was published in another authoritative scientific journal, The Lancet.

The authors of the publication stated that the Gam-COVID-Vac vaccine has demonstrated high efficacy, immunogenicity and safety rates during the third phase of clinical trials.

"Inhibits preventive measures"

The topic of vaccination is becoming more and more politicized, analysts say.

So, in February 2021, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Moscow and Beijing were allegedly trying to use their successes in developing vaccines against coronavirus to achieve goals in the diplomatic arena.

Hungary, which bought the Russian vaccine, had to face a "large-scale political attack" against it.

This was announced in March by the country's Foreign Minister Peter Siyarto in an interview with RT.

At the same time, critics did not pay attention to the position of scientists on this issue, the minister said.

“None of those who attacked us asked:“ What do your experts say?

Is it really effective, safe? "

No, we were attacked simply because we decided to turn our gaze to the east instead of looking only to the west, ”said the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.

The diplomat added that the big mistake of a number of European countries was the ideologization of the vaccination issue.

  • Vaccine against COVID-19 "Sputnik V" ("Gam-COVID-Vac")

  • RIA News

  • © Pavel Bednyakov

As political analyst Andrei Suzdaltsev noted in a commentary on RT, some Western governments really regarded the COVID-19 pandemic only as a convenient pretext for a new round of political competition.

“What is observed today can be called a political war.

Today, some of those with the most effective tools to tackle the pandemic felt they could dictate the political agenda to the world.

And this is not just a struggle for people's lives and the creation of an effective vaccine, it is a struggle for money and political influence, "Suzdaltsev explained.

In his opinion, a number of countries that have established their own production of vaccines against coronavirus see them as a tool for gaining and consolidating political leadership.

“The Sputnik vaccine has already proved its effectiveness, despite the attempts of the West to“ drown ”its image.

Most likely, in the future, the EU will certify the Russian vaccine.

But this will happen after political motives recede into the background, ”the expert said.

Doctor of Political Science Andrei Manoilo, in turn, believes that unmotivated attacks on the Russian and Chinese vaccines against coronavirus can harm not only opponents, but also the West.

“Such a vaccine war only slows down the preventive measures that need to be taken in a pandemic.

It is possible that behind these attacks are the interests of pharmaceutical companies, which are trying to preserve their sales markets in this way.

Politicians who talk about such things are dilettantes in medical matters, ”the expert summed up in a commentary on RT.