DISINFO: WHO's reasons to paralyse the validation process of the Sputnik V are questionable
SUMMARY
Investigators of the WHO who visited a manufacturing plant of Sputnik V in the city of Ufa as part of the validation process of the vaccine found several problems, such as the traceability of the batches of the vaccine, the filling lines, the guarantee of sterilisation and the handling of cross-contamination hazards. Those observers didn’t question the vaccine itself but some environmental and sterilisation aspects in its fabrication. However, the WHO announced that it would paralyse the validation, not of the visited factory, but of the whole validation process of the Sputnik V at a global level.
The WHO team stated that the procedure didn’t fully adjust to what indicates the so-called ‘Good Manufacturing Practices’ or GMP. Not every country in the world sticks to this protocol, Russia being one of those who doesn’t, not because they don’t have quality standards but because their protocols are different, not necessarily better or worse.
RESPONSE
The information presented in this video is deliberately misleading. According to the preliminary report of the WHO inspection in late June, its envoys not only found the problems mentioned in this disinformation video but also “identified concerns with the integrity of data and test results of microbiological and environmental monitoring during the manufacturing and quality control activities” of the vaccine.
Experts have pointed out that this lack of sterilisation is no minor problem since it would be very dangerous to inject somebody with something that had any trace of bacteria in there at the filling stage, as the bacteria would multiply in the vial before it gets used.
Besides, the lack of adequate traceability means there is no way to know which batches do not match the required quality standards and safety measures. For this reason, the claim that the WHO could have invalidated only the Ufa plant and not the whole Sputnik V vaccine is fallacious.
The affirmation about the GMP is also distorted. The Good Manufacturing Practices are seen as a necessity by the World Health Organisation for medicines to be considered safe and are widely accepted throughout the world. While protocols may and do vary depending on the country, standards don’t and must be upheld in every case. The map showed in this disinformation video is also deceitful, as it doesn’t feature many countries that actually stick to GMP standards, such as Argentina, the ASEAN nations, India, South Africa, Chile or Australia, just to name a few.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives about the Sputnik V vaccine in our database, such as claims that the process of recognising it is artificially delayed, that G20 countries recognised it as the best drug for coronavirus prevention, that the attitude of Western politicians towards it feeds vaccine hesitancy in Russia, that the West is waging a targeted campaign against this vaccine, or that there is a political-economical-viral alliance to prevent Sputnik V.
This disinformation message appeared in the same video as the claim that “WHO follows certain interests and double standards in relation to Covid-19 vaccines”.