On Jan. 1 a Ukrainian pharmaceutical company applied to the Ministry of Health for registering and producing Sputnik V, the coronavirus vaccine made by Russia’s Gemalaya Institute. Biolik, a pharma firm in Kharkov, said that they have “sufficient production capacity” and “qualified personnel” to make vaccines for Ukraine. On Jan. 2, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) that developed Sputnik V, said on Rossiya-1 TV: “Of course, we are ready to fully transfer our technologies for the production of [the Sputnik V vaccine] in Ukraine.… We … are even ready to begin clinical trials of the joint AstraZeneca-Sputnik V vaccine in Ukraine. We are ready to cooperate with Ukraine in every possible way.” In Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk, chairman of Opposition Platform – For Life wrote: “If the authorities refuse or obstruct the legal procedure for registering Sputnik V in Ukraine, this will indicate their criminal intent to deprive Ukrainian citizens of the right to receive medical protection against the coronavirus….”
Sure enough, Viktor Lyashko, Ukraine’s chief sanitary doctor, was quick to declare the basis on which he would oppose Biolik’s application: Ukraine would only go for vaccines “by the countries with a tough regulatory policy.” Medvedchuk promptly attacked Lyashko’s sophistry as having “nothing to do with health, nor with the interests of Ukrainian citizens.”
