Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology has joined the top five most mentioned inoculations among foreign mass media outlets during the year, according to a ranking by LexisNexis specially prepared for TASS.
The Comirnaty jab developed jointly by the renowned American multinational drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech topped the ranking.
The study analyzed a list of registered global COVID-19 vaccines. The experts submitted a request to a media database by LexisNexis, which evaluated the presence of each of them in the foreign press.
"The vaccines from the United States and the United Kingdom top the ranking. The unparalleled leader here is Pfizer’s Comirnaty. The foreign press has shown rather great interest in Russia’s coronavirus vaccines, namely Sputnik V. The greatest amount of media coverage on the Russian shots were in the American and British press, and media outlets from Vietnam, Argentina, Spain and China have shown enormous interest here as well. Obviously, the world is taking a close look at the Russian-made drugs, focusing on the data regarding their effectiveness and side effects, yet avoiding criticism," the study notes.
The media showed the greatest interest in the ranking’s leader - the Comirnaty shot (908,000 references, with more than half of them in US sources), especially in terms of its efficacy, approval in the world and vaccination among celebrities.
The vaccine by AstraZeneca, the renowned British-Swedish drugmaker, (771,000 references, with more than half in US and UK media) comes in second. The media focus was on its side effects and the suspension of using the jab. There was also immense foreign media interest in the vaccines produced by Moderna, a US company, (622,000 references) and Janssen, which is a branch of Johnson & Johnson (560,000 references).
Russia’s Sputnik V inoculation (465,000 publications) is ranked fifth. The jab is mentioned against the backdrop of its widespread availability, public confidence issues, and with regards to getting the vaccine approved in the EU. In addition, the foreign press also mentioned other Russian inoculations such as EpiVacCorona made by the Vector Institute of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (13,000 publications) and CoviVac created by the Chumakov Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (934,000).
The experts point out the heightened interest the foreign press had in the Russian vaccines after March 23, when it was announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had gotten his jab.
Austria’s talks with Russia on purchase of Sputnik V move into final stretch
Moscow and Vienna have entered into the final stretch of negotiations before Austria’s purchase of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said before meeting with Russia’s Ambassador to Vienna Dmitry Lyubinsky on Wednesday.
"Intensive talks are behind and they have gone well. We are in the ‘final meters’ in regard to the purchase of Sputnik V," Kurz told reporters.
The Austrian Federal Chancellor’s Office said on Wednesday that Kurz and Lyubinsky would hold a working meeting on possible purchases of the Russian vaccine.
On March 30, the Austrian Federal Chancellor’s Office said that Vienna was in talks with Moscow about the purchase of one million doses of Sputnik V to vaccinate 500,000 people, which might be delivered in three tranches - in April, May and June 2021.
Austria and Russia inked a non-disclosure agreement that binds Austria to keep information secret when exchanging confidential documents and providing access to the information about the vaccine by the two countries’ health ministries.
In early March, Sebastian Kurz held a meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is in charge of Sputnik V international production and deliveries. Dmitriev and Kurz focused on the use of Sputnik V vaccine in Austria, Russian Ambassador Dmitry Lyubinsky said at that time. Austria is keen to purchase Sputnik V and cooperate in its production, Kurz said then.
Austria launched a vaccination campaign in December 2020, using the Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.(TASS)
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