COVID-19: Russia, facing lags, turns to China to produce Sputnik shots 

Russia is turning to multiple Chinese firms to manufacture the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in an effort to speed up production as demand soars for its shot. 

Russia has announced three deals totaling 260,000,000 doses with Chinese vaccine companies in recent weeks.  

It's a decision that could mean quicker access to a shot for countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa that have ordered Russia's vaccine, as the US and the European Union focus mainly on domestic vaccination needs.  

Earlier, criticism about Russia's vaccine have been largely quieted by data published in the British medical journal The Lancet that said large-scale testing showed it to be safe, with an efficacy rate of 91 per cent.  

Yet, experts have questioned whether Russia can fulfill its pledge to countries across the world. While pledging hundreds of millions of doses, it has only delivered a fraction.  

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said demand for Sputnik V significantly exceeds Russia's domestic production capacity. 

To boost production, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which bankrolled Sputnik V, has signed agreements with multiple drug makers in other countries, such as India, South Korea, Brazil, Serbia, Turkey, Italy and others. There are few indications, however, that manufacturers abroad, except for those in Belarus and Kazakhstan, have made any large amounts of the vaccine so far.  

Airfinity, a London-based science analytics company, estimates Russia agreed to supply some 630,000,000 doses of Sputnik V to over 100 countries, with only 11,500,000 doses exported so far.  

RDIF declined to disclose how many doses are going to other countries. Through April 27, less than 27 million two-dose sets of Sputnik V have been reportedly produced in Russia.  

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which has been in charge of international cooperation for Sputnik V, said in April it would produce 100,000,000 doses in collaboration with Hualan Biological Bacterin Inc., in addition to an earlier deal announced in March for 60,000,000 doses with Shenzhen Yuanxin Gene tech Co. 

The two deals are in addition to a deal announced last November with Tibet Rhodiola Pharmaceutical Holding Co, which had paid USD 9,000,000 to manufacture and sell the Sputnik V vaccine in China.  

RDIF said in April the terms of the deal were for 100,000,000 doses with a subsidiary company belonging to Tibet Rhodiola. 

“Russia is very ambitious and unlikely to meet their full targets,” said Rasmus Bech Hansen, founder and CEO of Airfinity. Working with China to produce Sputnik V could be a win-win situation for both Russia and China, he added. 

(With input from agencies)