Ireland Considers Russian Covid Vaccine

IRELAND considers using the Russian Sputnik V Covid vaccine

The chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC), Professor Karina Butler, has said that Ireland will look closely at the possibility of using the Russian-developed Covid-19 jab, Sputnik V, after the Lancet medical journal reported it to be 91.6 per cent effective on Tuesday, February 2.

“Sometimes we feel if it’s developed in a country we’re not familiar with there must be something wrong,” Professor Butler said.

“But this might be very good and in fact, anything that is helpful will be welcomed and I think they are going to be submitting it to the regulatory agencies as well.”

The news comes as Spain’s Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, said that she was also not ruling out the use of the Russian vaccine. In fact, with varying degrees of efficacy across the different jabs, experts believe a combined route may be the way to go. Many countries, including France and Sweden, have decided not to administer the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to those over 65, as they believe there is not enough data to prove that it is effective.

“The combination together might give us the mix where we get to a level of immunity in the population as a whole that can actually get us out of the situation that we’re in at the moment,” added Professor Butler.

“Every one of these vaccines is going to find its place. If it’s safe and it’s effective we’re there with this range of vaccines — so this is a good news story.”

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