Immunologist claims EMA will approve Sputnik shortly, spat with Russia 'political'

ireland
Immunologist Claims Ema Will Approve Sputnik Shortly, Spat With Russia 'Political'
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MARCH 3, 2021: A medical worker fills a syringe with the Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccination site at the Rio shopping center. The walk-in vaccination site offers free COVID-19 vaccines. Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
Share this article

Vivienne Clarke

Immunologist Professor Kingston Mills has described the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik as very effective and said that he expected the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to authorise its use shortly.

Prof Mills told Newstalk Breakfast that there were other vaccines available outside the Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines already approved.

Advertisement

Apart from Sputnik from Russia, there was also NovaVax from the United States and CureVac from Germany.

Efficacy

Sputnik appeared to have great efficacy, reportedly 92 percent, he said. The EU was not dragging their feet, they were completing a rolling review, looking at all the data and had not yet received an application for full market authorisation.

The current “spat” between Russia and the EMA was “a bit of a political thing” and he said he would be very surprised if Sputnik was not licensed soon. “It’s a very, very good vaccine.”

Prof. Mills explained that making vaccines was a highly complex and sophisticated process and that manufacturers did not have “barrels” of vaccine “sitting on shelves” while they were awaiting approval.

Advertisement

Some of the vaccines — AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — involved a ‘live’ virus which had to be grown. It was not a straightforward process and had to be grown under very stringent conditions, he explained.

All of the companies involved wanted to “crank up” production, but in some cases there were issues with supplies of the ingredients required to make the vaccine, such as reagents which had been in short supply for PCR testing too, he said.

Prof Mills said he believed the “teething issues” would soon be “ironed out” and more vaccines would be approved for use which would increase supply.

Read More

Message submitting... Thank you for waiting.

Want us to email you top stories each lunch time?

Download our Apps
© BreakingNews.ie 2024, developed by Square1 and powered by PublisherPlus.com