A South Korean pharmaceutical company manufacturing Russia's COVID-19 vaccine said Thursday it was bracing for business complications as the West – led by the United States – escalates sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
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Recently expanded US sanctions include targeted measures against the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund run by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin that globally markets the Sputnik vaccines.
Kim Gi-young, an official from Seoul-based GL Rapha, said the sanctions will not directly impede its production of the shots as the measures aren't aimed at essential medical supplies. However, the company is concerned about potential problems arising from the financial side as South Korea joins the United States and many European countries in a move to cut off key Russian banks from global payment systems.
"Right now, we are watching how the situation develops," Kim said.
GL Rapha has so far produced 5 million shots of the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine, but none of them have been used so far as Russia continues to delay rollout plans, Kim said.
GL Rapha also has an agreement with RDIF to produce 150 million shots of the two-dose Sputnik V and is participating in a consortium of South Korean companies that has been contracted to produce another 500 million doses of Sputnik V, but these shots haven't been produced yet. RDIF has reportedly criticized the US sanctions and said the measures would slow its promotion of Sputnik V.
Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency said on Thursday it had authorized Moderna's coronavirus vaccine for children aged six to 11, in addition to recommending booster shots of Pfizer's vaccine for those aged 12 and over, in decisions aimed at providing further protection against COVID-19 for children across Europe.
At a press briefing, the EU regulator's vaccines chief Dr. Marco Cavaleri said the Moderna vaccine for younger children will be a half-dose of what is given to older teens and adults. He said research showed young children had an immune response comparable to that seen in older populations "as measured by the level of neutralizing antibodies" against the COVID-19 virus.
Cavaleri said the Moderna shot was also being recommended for use as a booster dose in people who had received other vaccines. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was granted a green light for use in children aged five and over last November.
Cavaleri said data from countries – including Israel and the US – in more than 400,000 children showed that a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children 12 was safe and effective.
"No new safety signal was identified," he said, adding that scientists looked in particular for cases of heart and chest inflammation, side effects that have previously been linked to the shot. "Those cases were very rare and most [people] recovered without intervention."
Children are typically at much lower risk of severe coronavirus disease but are still vulnerable amid high levels of transmission.
In recent weeks, COVID-19 cases and deaths across much of Europe have dropped significantly after peaking in late January. But numbers are still rising in some places with lower vaccination rates elsewhere, including Russia and Turkey.
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As for the coronavirus situation in Israel, the Health Ministry reported 6,571 cases on Friday morning. Altogether 60,600 Israelis were screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, which puts the infection rate at 10.84%.
There are currently 61,022 active cases in the country with 1,073 patients hospitalized. Of those, 484 are in serious condition. Currently, 26,998 Israelis are in quarantine.
Thus far, 730,638 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,465,589 with three, 6,122,028 with two, and 6,699,701 have received one shot.
Israel has reported 3,660,151 cases, including 10,264 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.
