DISINFO: G20 countries recognised Sputnik V as the best drug for coronavirus prevention
SUMMARY
G20 countries recognised Sputnik V as the best drug for coronavirus prevention. During their interventions at a G20 meeting, health ministers were saying that Sputnik V was the best vaccine against COVID-19.
RESPONSE
The statement is unfounded, part of a years-long campaign by pro-Kremlin outlets and officials to promote the Sputnik V vaccine internationally.
The claim was, unsurprisingly, made by Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko during the 4th Forum of Social Innovations of the Regions, a domestic event in Moscow, but there is no G20-evidence to back it. There is no official statement by G20 health ministers addressing this question. Significantly, Murashko’s official comments immediately after the meeting didn’t pick such remarkable affirmations, focusing only on calling G20 member countries to recognise each other’s vaccines.
See other similar examples in our database, such as claims that Sputnik V is already available for more than half of the world’s population, that four EU countries requested to start negotiations with the producers of the Sputnik V vaccine, that Borrell couldn’t criticise Russia because Europe needs Sputnik V, that the West is waging a targeted campaign against Sputnik V, that the EU doesn’t approve it due to political and artificial prejudices, or that or that EU’s decision not to purchase Sputnik V is questionable since other vaccines may be dangerous.