San Marino, a tiny landlocked state, surprised many of its European neighbours when it began easing anti-COVID restrictions in mid-April, several months after it stocked up on Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. It may be one of Europe’s smallest states, but it’s winning the COVID battle thanks to Russia’s vaccine. The country, which has a population […]

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is investigating reports of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine causing Guillain-Barre syndrome, as the pharmaceutical company remains embroiled in controversy over the jab’s link to blood clotting. In a meeting this week, the European Medicines Agency’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) revealed that it was “assessing reports” of the rare immune system disorder being found in […]

India has received its first batch of the Russian-made Sputnik V jab. Heavily hit by a new wave of Covid-19 infections, the country has expanded its vaccination drive in a bid to inoculate its entire adult population. An aircraft carrying the vaccines touched down in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Saturday. “First batch […]

VIENNA – Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober announced on Tuesday his intention to step down from the ministerial post due to health problems and exhaustion from combating the coronavirus pandemic. The 60-year-old recently had to take sick leave twice due to blood circulation problems. “After consultations with my doctors, I decided to step down from […]

Australia has declined to purchase a vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson, because its mechanism is similar to the one used in AstraZeneca’s jab. Both vaccines are currently being investigated for links to blood clots. The Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine is “an adenovirus vaccine, the same type of vaccine as the AstraZeneca vaccine,” a spokesperson for […]

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has “a lot of good scientific data” behind it, the head of Germany’s Bionorica SE pharmaceutical company, Michael Popp, told RT, as he shared his company’s experience working with Russian specialists. Russian researchers have a lot of experience and expertise in vaccine development,” said the CEO of the German-based international company, which […]

Austria is to order a million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, one month after a successful phone call between Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and the Kremlin. It will be the third EU country to receive the formula. The news came from the chancellor himself, who revealed that Vienna and Moscow are engaged in talks, […]

Drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech wanted to charge the EU Commission €54.08 per dose of their Coronavirus vaccine, according to German media reports. The jab would have cost more than 20 times that of a rival shot from AstraZeneca. The prospective price tag was revealed on Thursday by German broadcasters NDR and WDR, and the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. […]

Once again, the world has failed to unite when faced with a common threat. The response to the Covid-19 pandemic proves that much of the West, especially the US, is committed to bloc politics, no matter the real-world human cost. It was revealed in the annual report of the US Department of Health and Human […]

Holidays abroad might have been an early casualty of Covid-19 lockdowns, but Russia is betting that wanderlust has only grown, and plans to make it easier for tourists to take a long trip round the world’s largest country. Under the rule change, adopted by the national parliament in its first reading on Wednesday, visas for […]

Covid-19 jabs are being distributed unevenly between EU member states, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said, pointing to “secret contracts” signed at a “vaccine bazaar” with big pharma by the bloc’s vaccination steering board. “Deliveries are not happening in line with population,” Kurz told a press conference organized at short notice on Friday. He added that the […]

Austria launched its vaccination effort in December, offering citizens inoculations with Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, or AstraZeneca. Certain Austrian firms are also negotiating with Russia on Sputnik V production, according to the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, one of the vaccine’s promoters abroad. Austria’s top infectologist, Professor Florian Thalhammer, believes that the efficacy and reliability […]

MOSCOW – Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says he is ready to get vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine or the Chinese vaccine, if they are approved by the EU. “Yes [I am ready to get vaccinated], if the vaccines [Russia’s and China’s] are approved in Europe,” Kurz said in an interview with the […]

Brussels’ beleaguered coronavirus vaccination program could be poised to get a shot in the arm as the EU’s central regulator completes its initial stage in appraising Sputnik V, the vaccine developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Center. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) told Russian media on Tuesday that the scientific consultation process was now finalized. “As a next […]

GENOA, Italy – The report in the medical journal The Lancet on the safety and efficacy of the Russian vaccine against the novel coronavirus has put Sputnik V among the world’s top vaccines, David Livermore, a member of the scientific advisory board on Sputnik V, said in an interview with Sputnik. On Tuesday, peer-reviewed medical […]