Italy to be Europe's first country to make Russia's Sputnik V vaccines

In a first, a European pharmaceutical company has agreed to produce Russia’s Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine in Italy. According to reports, a Swiss firm has agreed to produce Sputnik-V in Italy despite the fact that the Russian vaccine has not been approved by the European Union medicines agency yet. According to Bloomberg, Sputnik-V will be produced in Italy’s Milan region. Russia also has a production agreement with companies in India, China, Brazil, and South Korea. 

The vaccine will reportedly be produced by Adienne Pharma & Biotech SA in one of its facilities in Lombardy. According to Bloomberg, Adienne has signed an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce the vaccine in Italy. Reports suggest that RDIF is also in talks with other European countries to manufacture the vaccine, including France and Germany. 

Last week, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced the review procedure for the Sputnik-V vaccine for use in the bloc. However, even before the EMA announced the review, a number of European nations had already made independent decisions to approve the vaccine in their states, including Hungary and Slovakia. The vaccine has also been approved in several countries outside the European Union. However, the EMA managing board chief on Sunday cautioned European countries against Sputnik-V, citing a lack of data from clinical trials. 

Russia’s Sputnik-V was one of the first vaccines in the world to get government approval. Russia declared the vaccine safe and effective last August, which garnered a lot of criticism because the country had not tested Sputnik-V on a larger group of people. Russia announced large-scale trials the following month and later concluded the vaccine to be safe and effective. Russia was also one of the first countries to start mass vaccination among the general public, but it now faces roadblocks because of low output.