SA medicines regulator accused of blocking Sputnik vaccine

SA’s medicines regulator has come under attack from the financial backers of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, who say its failure to grant the product emergency use authorisation threatens to torpedo their plans to set up a manufacturing site in Cape Town.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) financed the Gamalaya Institute’s development of Sputnik V. It was the first Covid-19 vaccine to be registered for use in any country and is being used in more than 70 nations, including Hungary, Brazil and Zimbabwe...