(Newswire.net— September 23, 2020) — In a speech at this year’s United Nations General Assembly on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the UN, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered free vaccination to all UN staff around the world with the new Russian anti-COVID vaccine “Sputnik-V”, Fox News reports.
“Russia is ready to provide the UN with all the necessary qualified assistance. In particular, we are offering to provide our vaccine free of charge for the voluntary vaccination of the staff of the UN and its offices,” Putin said at a virtual United Nations General Assembly.
“We are ready to share experience and continue cooperating with all states and international entities, including in supplying the Russian vaccine, which has proved reliable, safe and effective, to other countries,” said Putin, who globally announced the vaccine as a success last month.
He described his offer as a response to public demand: “Some colleagues from the United Nations have asked about this and we will not remain indifferent to them.”
The UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric thanked President Putin “for the generous offer that will be studied by our health service.”
At the United Nations Medical Agency in Geneva, the World Health Organization, spokeswoman Margaret Harris refused to comment on Putin’s offer.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last month that he “seriously doubt(s)” Russia has proven its vaccine is safe and effective. However, Mr. Putin said that the vaccine was “proven efficient and forms a stable immunity,” Reportedly one of Putin’s adult daughters was among those who received the Sputnik-V vaccine.
In a report published in The Lancet magazine, experts who worked on the Russian vaccine said that it seemed to be safe and that within three weeks it stimulated an antibody response in all 40 people who were tested in the second phase of the study. However, the authors noted that participants were followed for only 42 days, that the study sample was small, and no placebo or control vaccine was used.
In contrast, other vaccines that were also likely in early phases of testing are now being studied more widely, in tens of thousands of people in several countries, to determine if they can protect against infection and if they have side effects that can only be found by large trials.
President Trump says the U.S. is rounding a corner on the coronavirus pandemic and that it will be ready “long before the end of the year.”
On Monday, Russian media reported that WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr. Hans Kluge praised the Russian vaccine after a meeting with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in Moscow. The state news agency TASS quoted Kluge as saying that “the WHO appreciates Russia’s efforts in developing a vaccine against the coronavirus, ‘Sputnik V’,” calling it “safe and effective.”
Russian officials have defended their vaccine on the world stage, while pharmaceutical companies around the world are racing to be the first to offer a mass-market and proven effective vaccine, and governments are racing to provide access to one of the vaccines for their population.