At a time when vaccination campaigns within the EU are reaching full steam after EMA’s endorsement of the vaccines by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, there is a remarkable silence about the Russian Sputnik vaccine.
Yet, Sputnik-V was the first vaccine to be officially announced in the battle against the coronavirus and it was presented with much bravado by the Russian authorities. Reports about steps being skipped in test phases of the Russian vaccine and its purpose as a geopolitical tool aroused suspicion in the West. Today, still, the general public very much perceives Sputnik-V as second tier despite the proven high effectivity of the vaccine.
- But how much do we actually know about the vaccine?
- How does Sputnik-V work in practice, and how does it compare to Western vaccines?
- Could a better understanding of the Russian vaccine lead us to new insights that are important for the further development of the other vaccines?
- Can the Russian vaccine realistically complement the European vaccination strategy?
- What does the Russian vaccination strategy look like, and what can we learn from it?
To answer these underexamined questions, the Russia Platform is organising a high-level panel discussion with Russian experts Asmik Asatryan, Irina Levchenko & Susanna Kharit and specialists from Ghent University / Ghent University Hospital (UZ Ghent) Elizaveta Padalko, Geert Leroux-Roels & Hans Nauwynck.