COVID-19: Macron, Merkel and Putin discuss Sputnik V vaccine and its use in Europe

Threatened by a potential third wave of COVID-19, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on March 30, discussed possible cooperation on vaccines with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As per a statement by the Kremlin, the trio deliberated on chances of Sputnik V being registered in the European Union as well as a possible production of the same on the European soil. Moscow applied for the bloc’s approval for its flagship Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in January, but approval has greatly been stalled. 

Macron and Merel also asked the Russian leader to respect the rights of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and preserve his health. However, Putin blatantly defended his actions citing what he termed as "objective circumstances" of Navalny's case, as per Kremlin. During their virtually held talks, the three leaders also talked about situations in other countries including Ukraine, Belarus, Libya, Syria while also agreeing to cooperate in Iran. 

EU official starts vaccine controversy 

While Macron and Merkel are showing interest in Russian jabs, a top European Union recently claimed that the bloc does not need Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, speaking to TF1, reckoned that the EU was capable of achieving total immunity on the continent just by using European produce jabs. His remarks, however, drew backlash from Sputnik V which accused the bloc of ‘bias’. 

Breton also reiterated a previous comment that the EU would help Russia with the production of the vaccine if needed but priority should be given to the Europeans. The bloc has been widely criticised for its slow rollout of vaccine shots, especially as compared to its former member-the UK. According to official data, 10.4 per cent of the bloc’s population has received at least one dose of the vaccine while 4.5 per cent has been completely inoculated against COVID-19.

The official account of Sputnik V called out Breton for being “biased”. In a series of tweets, Sputnik V  hit back on the bloc saying that it has failed to provide a “safe vaccine’ to residents while at least 54 countries have shown trust in the Russian vaccine. "Commissioner Thierry Brenton is clearly biased against Sputnik V vaccine just because it is Russian,” it wrote. 

Image: AP