Esperita García de Pérez received her first vaccine against COVID-19 in May. That, along with her Catholic faith, made her feel more protected against the coronavirus, and she expected to receive the second dose of Sputnik V, the formula developed by Russia, a few weeks later.
But Garcia, 88, is still waiting. He contracted the virus last month and his hopes for survival are now pinned on the large number of medications and home care he is receiving.
Millions of people in developing countries from Latin America to the Middle East are also waiting for more doses of Sputnik V after manufacturing problems and other setbacks have created huge stops in immunization campaigns. One company estimated that Russia has exported only 4.8% of the nearly 1 billion doses it promised.
The head of the state-controlled Russian fund that invested in the vaccine insisted on Wednesday that supply problems have been resolved.
Venezuela, which decreed the use of Sputnik for people over 50, ordered 10 million doses in December 2020, but has received just under 4 million. The first shipment to Argentina, the first in the Western Hemisphere to administer the Russian formula, arrived on December 25, but it is still waiting for much of the 20 million doses it bought.
“I had a long time now, many months, anxious because (the vaccine) was going to arrive, (later) it was not going to arrive, that it was going to wait, that it was not going to wait,” said García de Pérez. “What one wants (…) is to have the security and the hope that if things are going to come”.
Launched in August 2020 and named after the first satellite in history as a symbol of the Russian scientific avant-garde, Sputnik V has been approved in some 70 countries. Earlier this year, Russian state media reported its “world conquest” triumphantly, while Moscow aggressively marketed it after wealthy nations monopolized developed nations in the West.
For a time it was “the only option available,” said Judy Twigg, a professor of global health at Virginia Commonwealth University, adding that Russia’s window of opportunity “to proclaim itself the true savior" in the pandemic it has disappeared.
Unlike other COVID-19 vaccines, the first and second doses of this one are different and are not interchangeable. Its manufacture in Russia has been marred by reports of production problems, especially in the preparation of the second part. The experts pointed to the limited production capacity as well as the fact that the process is very complex.
Sputnik is a viral vector vaccine that uses a killed virus that carries genetic material to stimulate the immune system. Manufacturers cannot guarantee stable production because working with biological ingredients involves a number of variables in terms of the quality of the finished product.
Airfinity, a scientific data analysis firm, estimates that 62 nations have supply agreements for a total of 1 billion doses of Sputnik V, but only 48 million have been exported so far. It was not clear whether those doses were to be delivered in 2021 or longer term, he added.
Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, which finances and sells the vaccine abroad and has production contracts with 25 plants in 14 countries, says that it “fully complies with the Sputnik V supply contracts, including the second component, following a successful increase in production in August and September ”.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the fund’s CEO, Kirill Dmitriev, said that all production problems “have been completely resolved. All the problems with the second component are solved in all the countries ”.
“There is not a single vaccine manufacturer in the world that has not had problems with deliveries", he claimed.
While the West relied mostly on vaccines made in the United States and Europe, such as those from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca, many developing countries have opted for others that are easier to obtain in China and Russia. The World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency have not yet approved Sputnik V for use.
In Argentina, delays in the arrival of Russian vaccines and a new wave of infections in March increased popular pressure on the government to speed up negotiations with other pharmaceutical companies.
The initial agreement called for 20 million doses, of which, as of Tuesday, the country had received around 14.2 million. Later another was signed for a local laboratory to produce the formula with the active ingredient shipped from Russia. In this way, around 1.2 million first doses and 3.6 million of the second have been prepared.
Argentine officials said this month that the fund requested the return of 1.3 million doses for its packaging. Those vaccines have not been replaced.
Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, received around 1.3 million doses of the 60 that had been promised. The country’s ambassador to Russia said in April that the Islamic Republic was expecting the drugs between May and November, according to the state news agency IRNA.
There are indications that Iran has also suffered from the lack of the second component of the vaccine. In September, the Deputy Minister of Health, Alireza Raisi, urged those who had the first dose to receive the second of AstraZeneca due to “uncertainty” about the arrival of the Russian.
A similar problem appears to have prevented Turkey from administering the Russian formula. Authorities announced in April an agreement for 50 million doses that, according to media reports, would be delivered within six months. As of June, only 400,000 had arrived.
“Russia squandered that opportunity"Twigg stated. “I think that in some cases, this has left Russia’s reputation in Iran, Guatemala, Argentina, and perhaps Mexico a little worse than it would have been if it had done nothing, or if it had waited and made more workable promises from the start. , because people are disappointed".
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca noted in August that Turkey was unable to administer Sputnik because it did not have second doses. It is not clear if the country expects to receive that component or if it has simply discarded those vaccines.
“The whole process is a black box. No transparency"Opposition lawmaker Murat Emir said last month when asking Koca about the future of the Sputnik V campaign, including whether the money for the 400,000 unused doses will be recovered.
India was promised 125 million complete vaccines, but as of October 6 it had administered fewer than 1 million.
Sputnik delays in Argentina and Venezuela have led many to receive a different vaccine for the second dose even though scientists continue to study the effects of that combination.
According to Dr. Chris Beyrer, professor of public health and human rights at Johns Hopkins University, the advance purchase of highly effective vaccines by rich countries made it difficult for developing nations to protect their populations.
“One dose is better than no dose. So I think countries that have already started Sputnik, it makes sense to wait for the second dose, even if there has been a delay.", he claimed. “But if they don’t have that vaccine, then they should definitely look for other ones.".
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