There are no plans to use the Russian vaccine Sputnik V to vaccinate people in Lithuania, the country's Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė says.
“No, we do not plan to do that as this vaccine is not registered in any EU country. The European Medicines Agency has not evaluated it, so that's the only comment,” Šimonytė told reporters on Friday.
During his visit to Moscow on Friday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell suggested that the Russian-developed vaccine would be used in the EU.
Borrell said that the Sputnik V vaccine was “good news for the whole of mankind”.
Asked to comment on whether Lithuania would buy this vaccine, Šimonytė said that it was not approved for use in the EU yet.
“The EMA decides on whether a vaccine should be approved, not Mr. Borrell. There will be no more comment, in addition to what I said on this issue, as Sputnik is definitely not that vaccine that we have included into our vaccination portfolio,” Šimonytė said.
The Russian government approved Sputnik V in August and a number of foreign countries are interested in acquiring the vaccine. Russian scientists claim it is 91-percent effective, based on trials involving some 20,000 volunteers in Russia.
Last week, The Lancet medical journal published late stage trial results of the Russian vaccine, confirming it to be effective and safe.
The EU currently has six contracts on over 2 billion vaccine doses from various manufacturers, but only three vaccines have been approved for use in the EU and deliveries are stalling due to production issues.
The EMA has not received an application to approve Sputnik V for distribution.
‘Hybrid weapon’
Šimonytė has also tweeted that the vaccine was Russia's “hybrid weapon to divide and rule”.
“They say, Sputnik V is good but Putin doesn’t care to use it as a cure for the Russian people - he offers it to the world as another hybrid weapon to divide and rule,” she tweeted on Friday. “This is neither news nor good for mankind.”
They say, Sputnik V is good but Putin doesn’t care to use it as a cure for the Russian people - he offers it to the world as another hybrid weapon to divide and rule.
— Ingrida Šimonytė (@IngridaSimonyte) February 5, 2021
This is neither news nor good for mankind.
Responding to the tweet, the Russian Embassy in Vilnius called Šimonytė's statement “disinformation”.
“Despite the wave of disinformation and such biased statements at all the stages of the vaccine development and use, Sputnik’s V efficacy, which has been recognized internationally, speaks for itself,” the embassy wrote on its Twitter account of Sunday, according to the Tass news agency.
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