Slovakia has been told to return its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines “due to numerous contract breaches”.
This came after the State Drug Control Institute of Slovakia stated that vaccines delivered to the country were different from others.
The institute said it also did not receive enough information about Sputnik V to be able to assess its benefits and risks.
The official Twitter account of the Sputnik V vaccine accused the Slovak drug regulator of an “act of sabotage” and said it had “launched a disinformation campaign against Sputnik V and was planning an additional provocation.”
He added that the vaccine should have been tested in a laboratory that is part of the official network of the European Medicines Control Laboratory.
RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev held a productive meeting with the Vice Prime Minister of Slovakia Igor Matovič. RDIF remains committed to assisting the people of Slovakia with vaccination by Sputnik V.
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) April 8, 2021
The institute stated that it “strongly opposes today’s misleading claims” from the manufacturer Sputnik V and that the network of laboratories certified by the EU is intended only for vaccines registered in the European Union, not related to Sputnik V.
?Štátny ústav pre kontrolu liečiv sa dôrazne ohradzuje voči dnešným zavádzajúcim tvrdeniam Ruského fondu priamych…
Опубликовано Štátny ústav pre kontrolu liečiv Четверг, 8 апреля 2021 г.
Sputnik V has not yet been approved for use in the EU, but the body’s regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), launched an ongoing review of the vaccine last month.
The Russian side said that Sputnik V vaccines in Slovakia are different from “fake news”.
“All batches of Sputnik V are of the same quality and undergo strict quality control at the Gamalea Institute,” the statement said. “The quality of Sputnik V is confirmed by regulators in 59 countries.”
But the Slovaks said the vaccines were “similar only in common name.”
Slovakia’s coalition government disintegrated last month after Prime Minister Igor Matovych staged a secret deal to buy 2 million Sputnik V vaccines, despite disagreements between his coalition partners. Matovic welcomed the first 200,000 Russian vaccines at the airport on March 1.
Matovic, who now serves as finance minister and deputy prime minister in the new government, who was sworn in last week, was in Moscow on Thursday to discuss further vaccine supplies. The Russians said Kirill Dmitriev, executive director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which financed the vaccine and sold it abroad, had a “productive meeting” with Matovich.
But the foundation demanded that Slovaks send Sputnik V to an EU-certified laboratory for testing and asked for the vaccines to be returned so that “they could be used in other countries.”
“Congratulations, idiots,” Matovic said in a Facebook message to opponents of the Sputnik deal. He has said he is not ready to give up and plans to announce his next steps on Friday.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the death toll in Slovakia is currently 10,243.
More than 14.5 percent of its 5.45 million population received at least one dose of vaccine, according to Our World in Data.