Following our post yesterday on COVID-19 in Africa, we’ve summarized information on its treatment there with the help of Russian drugs: Sputnik V and Avifair.
Egypt
At the beginning of September, Egypt’s Minister of trade and industry Nevine Gamea mentioned Russia’s desire to reinforce its cooperation with Egypt in confronting the COVID-19 by using Sputnik V to treat infected cases. According to Russia’s Ambassador to Egypt Georgiy Borisenko, Russia is now studying the possibility of producing the vaccine in Egypt together with local pharmaceutical companies.
Nigeria
Nigeria has also demonstrated interest for Sputnik V. Russia’s Ambassador Alexey Shebarshin presented the vaccine samples to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire in Abuja on September, 11. The Nigerian Government also received an aide-mémoire with details about the vaccine in order to facilitate their further research.
South Africa
South African scientists are waiting for the phase 3 test results. According to the president and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council Glenda Gray, the state’s regulatory authorities will not license Sputnik V until there is sufficient biological evidence of its effect. “Vaccines have to be manufactured in a safe way, and so we will investigate the vaccine developers, making sure there is consistency among different batches,“ she said.
This uncertainty does not apply to other Russian anti-COVID-19 drugs such as Avifair, the first shipment of which was supplied to South Africa at the beginning of August.
As for humanitarian assistance, since April 2020 Russia has been reported to have delivered it to Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Senegal, Republic of Guinea, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo.