22.03.2021, The Financial Times
Thierry Breton said the bloc had ‘absolutely no need’ for the Russia-made jab.
The developers of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine have accused the EU’s internal market commissioner Thierry Breton of “hubris” and anti-Russian “bias” after he said the bloc had no need to use the jab.
“We have absolutely no need of Sputnik V,” Breton, who is head of the EU’s vaccine distribution initiative, told TF1 television on Sunday evening. The use of Sputnik V has become a controversial issue in the EU, after Hungary and Slovakia issued emergency approval for the jab before the bloc’s medical regulator gave it the green light.
“Commissioner [Thierry Breton] is clearly biased against the Sputnik V vaccine just because it is Russian,” Sputnik V’s developers said in a post on Twitter. “We hope that facts will help [him] to have less hubris and be less biased.”
“Biases lead to failures. And Breton’s failures are clear to many people in EU,” they added.
Moscow has sought to promote exports of Sputnik V to EU countries over the past two months.
Russian vaccine coronavirus Sputnik V’s developers said Breton’s comments would pressure member states to individually approve the Russian jab and not wait for approval from the central European Medicines Agency.
“[Breton] believes all is great with EU vaccinations and Sputnik V is not needed. Are Europeans happy with Breton’s vaccination approach?” the tweet said.
Message has been successfully sent!
