The EU can’t get out of its own way and has horribly botched its vaccination rollout. Russia has what appears to be an effective vaccine, readily available, but the EU is resisting. Blame reflexive anti-Russia politics. From the Strategic Culture Editorial Board at strategic-culture.org:
The Sputnik V vaccine potentially fills the supply gaps that the EU is encumbered with. Immediately.
It is now one year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic from the novel coronavirus and its accompanying Covid-19 disease. Worldwide, the death toll stands at 2.6 million and continues to rise.
The arrival of effective vaccines has offered new hope that the deadly virus can be eradicated. Sputnik V, the Russian manufactured vaccine, was the first to be registered anywhere in the world as of August last year and has since been proven by large-scale trials to be highly effective and safe. What’s more, it appears to be effective against new variants of the virus whose uncertain emergence threatens the objective of successful immunization and pandemic defeat.
Over 40 countries have so far officially approved the use of Sputnik V and worldwide interest appears to be growing for deploying the Russian jab. Compared with Western alternatives, it is much more affordable – by a factor of 10 – and can be stored and transported easily without hi-tech conditions. This is of particular importance for scores of poorer nations across Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Russia’s willingness to supply its vaccine to other nations reflects a sound medical strategy of promoting widespread and speedy immunization. The global pandemic requires a collective solution. No nation is safe until all are safe.
Meanwhile, the United States, Britain and the European Union stand accused of “vaccine nationalism”, whereby they are prioritizing their own national protection to the neglect of others. Not only is this ethically dubious, it is also misguided. As long as the Covid-19 virus continues to spread in other parts of the world, then new, more deadly variants can evolve through mutation which can in turn counteract vaccination efforts, even in those nations which are striving ahead with rollout success among their own populations, as in the US and Britain.
