According to reports, health regulators in Europe are expected to investigate whether volunteers participating in Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine trials have been pressured to attend.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is already examining whether Sputnik V can be used in Europe and it is expected to investigate whether the vaccine study meets recognized international standards known as “Good Clinical Practice”.
After text messages were released in December, Newswire told Reuters that the manager of a state office in Moscow had pressured employees to register for the trial.
Read: Vaccination diplomacy: Putin tries to use Sputnik V to expand Russia’s global influence
Staff were charged with signing up for flu vaccinations, which prevented the test vaccine from being injected. The manager Sergei Martyanov is said to have written: “Colleagues !!! … What kind of sabotage is that ???”
‘Who are you trying to outsmart ??? The coronavirus vaccine has absolute priority !!! ‘He reportedly wrote asking staff to recruit friends and family.
Read: Russia registers the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine for dogs, cats and other animals
The EMA is expected to announce next week that it will examine whether the Sputnik tests were carried out in an ethically correct manner according to a report in tThe Financial Times newspaperThe participants consisted of government employees and soldiers. The process was funded in part by the Kremlin’s Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev told the newspaper that the EMA inspection is due to begin next week, adding, “There was no pressure [on participants] and Sputnik V followed all clinical practices. “The EMA has been contacted and asked for a comment.
Other vaccines used around the world are those developed by AstraZeneca
AZN, -1.17%,
Modern
MRNA, -0.45%,
Johnson & Johnson
JNJ, -0.01%,
Novavax
NVAX, -2.66%,
and Pfizer
PFE, -0.60%
-BioNtech
BNTX, -2.09%.
