Russia offers UN staff free coronavirus vaccines
Moscow: What do you do when Vladimir Putin offers you Russia's new coronavirus vaccine, for free?
United Nations staff in New York and around the world are now facing that choice, after the Russian president offered on Tuesday to provide them the Sputnik-V vaccine in a speech to this year's General Assembly marking the body's 75th birthday.
Only results from small early studies on Russian vaccine have been published, raising concerns among some scientists that the vaccine isn't ready yet for widespread use -- and prompting worldwide memes about potential bizarre side effects.
Any one of us could face this dangerous virus. The virus has not spared the staff of the United Nations, its headquarters and regional entities, Putin said in a prerecorded speech from Moscow.
The coronavirus pandemic means this year's General Assembly is a work-from-home production, for the first time in its history.
Russia is ready to offer UN workers the necessary, qualified help, and in particular we propose to supply our vaccine for free to employees of the organisation and its subsidiaries who volunteer for vaccination, said Putin, who announced the vaccine to broad fanfare last month and said his own daughter is among those who have taken it.
He described Tuesday's offer as a response to popular demand: Some colleagues from the UN have asked about this, and we will not remain indifferent to them.
UN staff didn't immediately speak out on whether they'd take him up on the offer. At the UN's medical agency in Geneva, the World Health Organisation, spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris declined to comment.
In a report published in the journal Lancet, developers of the Russian vaccine said it appeared to be safe and to prompt an antibody response in all 40 people tested in the second phase of the study within three weeks. However, the authors noted that participants were only followed for 42 days, the study sample was small and there was no placebo or control vaccine used.
By contrast, other vaccines that have also shown promise in early tests are now being studied more widely, in tens of thousands of people in several countries, to understand if they can protect people from infections - and whether they have side effects that can only be found through large trials.
On Monday, Russian media reported that the WHO's regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, praised the vaccine after a meeting with Russia's Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in Moscow.
The state Tass news agency quoted Kluge as saying that the WHO appreciates Russia's efforts in developing a vaccine against the coronavirus, Sputnik V and calling it safe and effective.
Russian officials have defended the vaccine on the world stage, as pharmaceutical companies around the world race to market an effective vaccine on a mass scale, and governments race to ensure access to a vaccine for their populations.
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Killing of Khamenei cynical violation of human morality, international law: Putin
Moscow (PTI): The killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in his message to his Tehranian counterpart, the Kremlin said Sunday.
Khamenei was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on Saturday during a joint Israel-US attack on Iran.
“Please accept my deepest condolences in connection with the assassination of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, committed in a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law,” Putin said in his condolence message.
Putin's condolence message to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was published on the Kremlin portal.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia condemned the US-Israeli joint strikes on Iran qualifying it as an “unprovoked” aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law and called for immediate return to diplomacy.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also described the US and Israeli forces' strikes against the Iranian territory as “a pre-planned” act of aggression against an independent UN member state.
Putin also conducted an emergency meeting of the National Security Council online on Saturday to discuss the emerging situation following the US-Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliation.
Meanwhile, according to reports more than 2,00,000 Russians are stuck in the region due to closure of their airspaces by Iran and Gulf countries.
The situation in the Middle East and the airport closures have affected not only organised tourists from Russia registered with tour operators, but also those travelling on business trips and independently, state-run TASS news agency reported.
“Approximately 2,00,000 people are unable to leave the UAE or return from vacations in the Maldives and other countries,” Alexey Volkov, president of the National Union of Hospitality Industry, told TASS.
UAE and its airports have become a main hub of access to Russia since the Ukraine conflict and closure of EU air space for civilian air traffic under sanction on Moscow.
“The situation remains complex and unpredictable: drone and missile strikes have hit key tourist locations in the UAE, including its most famous hotels.
“And then there are those who aren't counted as tourists at all, but are travelling around the world for business—the Middle East, for example, is currently a major business hub, home to a significant amount of Russian capital, investment, and business,” Volkov said.
